Tamers Sagas: Diminuendo
by Narissa
Summary: In the sequel to Crescendo, Ryo returns home to find that a number of things have changed in his absence. First and foremost, that Rika has moved on with her life, and seems less than willing to give him a chance. Ryuki
1. Home Sweet Home

**Important Author's Notes:**

Hey there, this here's the sequel to one of my other stories, "Crescendo". Here's a little bit of history on this series: "Crescendo" is a story about Rika and Ryo. If you don't feel like reading it, here's what you need to know. Rika was being hunted by a monster, who was really a person who mutated after being infected with a virus. Ryo too gets infected, and captured by a man named Valn, who was the creator of it. Ryo gets cured of the virus, and when both Takato and Rika come to save him, only Ryo and Rika make it out. After the adventure, Rika is finally ready to be with Ryo, but Ryo is overwhelmed with guilt for Takato's death, and leaves the country, leaving her, and everyone else behind. I'd recommend reading the epilogue for Crescendo, as it's the direct lead-in to this, and introduces the characters of Will and Miriam. (It's short, just take a peek). Okay, glad that's out of the way.

Now, in "Crescendo", Takato plays an important role, but reading "Crescendo", you only get to see a part of it. My other stories, "Atlas", and its sequel, "Flux", both follow Takato through those events. All caught up? Good! (Oh yeah, and this is set only a few months after "Crescendo", rather than the six I'd initially planned. My bad.)

Enjoy!

--

"A ship in a harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for."

- Anonymous

--

Ryo was fidgety on the plane. To his left sat Will, and across the aisle on the right was his mother, Miriam. They were almost at Shinjuku, and Ryo was nervous as hell. It had been fourteen weeks since he'd left. He'd only been back once since then, and it was only for a few hours, most of which were spent at the airport.

He inhaled sharply, remembering the conversation he'd had with Rika Nonaka the night before. She had confessed her feelings to him—something he'd been wanting to hear for a very long time. She'd leaned in to kiss him—

--

—Ryo pulled away, unable to even breathe as he saw the sorrow overwhelm her face. She turned away from him, and Ryo saw a tear roll down her cheek.

"I can't." he forced himself to say, which was the hardest thing he'd had to do in a long, long time. "I'm sorry."

_I'm so sorry—_

"…oh. " Rika let out.

_Oh God I'm so sorry Rika._

"I thought you—" she stammered. "I mean, um—"

This wasn't how Ryo had wanted the conversation to go. He subtly brought his gaze to his backback, which was on the seat next to him, to make sure it was closed—his plane ticket not visible.

"I'm sorry." He repeated quietly.

"I just—I thought you liked me." Rika said innocently.

Ryo felt his heart break a hundred times a second as he saw her like this. Rika Nonaka, the most unattainable girl on the planet, the emotionally attached, the—

—_the one I love—_

"It's not about that," Ryo told her, not entirely lying. Much of the conversation from then on was a blur to Ryo, his head hurting to the point where it made him dizzy.

"I'm not strong enough to fight for you." Ryo finally confessed to her as he turned away. Throughout the conversation, he'd managed not to tell her how he really felt—he thought it would make things easier. Maybe it did—he'd never know, and he surely didn't notice, because it still hurt like hell.

It was killing Ryo that Rika was so persistent, something he'd found so appealing in her before. As he turned away, she grabbed his arm and yanked it so that he turned to face her. Her hair was still done up from the funeral that afternoon, and she looked as beautiful as ever.

"I don't _need_ you to fight for me, I just need you." She told him pleadingly. Ryo knew that she didn't, though. Throughout the ordeal, it had been her to protect him—she came after him when he was captured.

But it didn't matter. He knew that he couldn't. He couldn't be with her. Not her. Not ever.

Takato had died because Ryo wasn't able to protect him. A few hours before, Ryo had spoken at his funeral, and had been unable to confess his guilt of it to Takato's friends and family—the people who deserved to know how Takato had died. Ryo couldn't protect his best friend. He couldn't risk Rika.

He loved her too much.

"We can fight together." She said finally.

Ryo looked at her, and after losing himself in her lavender eyes for a moment, brought his gaze to her lips, which he wanted very much to feel on his own. But he regained control of himself, and continued what he'd set out to.

"No." he whispered to her. When he felt her hand let go of his arm, he felt his heart break once more, knowing that it was really over.

--

Ryo thought about that night every day since he left. About how things could have been different if he'd decided differently—decided to stay, decided to be with Rika. He was ready to.

He'd come to terms with Takato's death, and had finally accepted that even though he was partly responsible, he had to move on, and that it was selfish of him to wallow with regret—it wouldn't be what Takato would have wanted.

After leaving Shinjuku, Ryo had moved in with his mother, and, to conceal his identity so that his friends wouldn't be able to find him, donned the name "Scott". The only surprise he found bigger than his mother so eager to regain time with him, was to find that she had adopted a son after she herself left Shinjuku. The boy presently sat to Ryo's left.

Will grumbled unsatisfactorily as he shifted closer to Ryo, glaring angrily at the overweight sleeping man to his left who continued to snore loudly.

"What's wrong?" Ryo whispered.

"This guy smells awful." Will muttered.

Ryo snickered quietly. "Maybe the flight attendant will give you something to spray him with."

Will was two years younger than Ryo, but very smart for his age, despite his innocence. He'd been having difficulties with friends at school, who Will had become tired with—that is, he couldn't stand their company. Will was, intellectually, superior than his peers, and hated the mundane discussions that were inevitable with them. The school advised against advancing him because of his age, and there weren't any other good schools nearby, so he had been happy for the opportunity to move.

Will hadn't known that Ryo was actually Miriam's son, but was ecstatic to learn that Ryo was technically his brother. Ryo knew that Will looked up to him, which made him a little nervous, especially since he didn't see himself worth looking up to—he was convinced that there were plenty of other people Will could idolize. He knew that Will was conscious of the age difference between him and Ryo, and Ryo did his best to show Will that it didn't matter, and that many of his friends back home were younger than him. While he was still a baby when Ryo's mother adopted him, she had been upfront with him in telling him so.

The only unpleasantness that arose from the decision to move back came when Will found out that Ryo's name wasn't Scott. Actually, Will hadn't seemed so much angry about it as he did hurt. But he got over it quickly, and told Ryo he'd do his best to try to call him "Ryo". Will seemed to resent being left in the dark about why Ryo had come to live with his mother in the first place, and Ryo promised himself to tell Will everything soon enough.

Will grimaced and cursed as the sleeping man leaned over onto him, causing Ryo to laugh a little harder.

"How much longer?" Will grumbled.

"Another hour." Ryo said after checking his watch."

Will shoved the man back into his own seat, which still managed not to disturb his sleep.

"Nervous?" Will asked unexpectedly.

It took Ryo by surprise. "What would I have to be nervous about?"

"I don't know." Will said innocently. "So, are you?"

Ryo smirked a little at Will's intuitiveness. "Yeah, I am." He had plenty to be nervous for. The way the e-mails from his friends made it sound three months ago, his friends weren't very happy. "What about you?"

"Yeah, me too." Will said quietly.

"And what would you have to be nervous about?" It was Ryo's turn to pry.

"Friends, school—everything, I guess."

Ryo flashed him his most comforting smile. "Try not to worry about it. You know I'll always look out for you."

--

"Wow, it's so—_big_." Will exclaimed, looking around.

It really was a large house. Ryo lugged his bags in, and dropped them to look around. The house had freshly painted walls, and the floors were hardwood and polished recently. They were in what Ryo assumed was the living room. There was a large bay window, and a fireplace.

"I'm glad you like it." Miriam said warmly.

"How can we afford this, again?" Ryo asked, admiring it.

"The restaurant was worth a _lot_." Miriam replied.

"You sure you're not peddling drugs?" Ryo teased. Miriam's reply to that was the tossing of a small duffel bag. Ryo caught it, still grinning.

"Can you put that in the bathroom?" Miriam asked.

"Sure." Ryo replied, and headed away, before stopping after a step. "Uh, where is that, exactly?"

Miriam stuck her tongue out at him. "Just go explore."

Ryo spent most of the day unpacking with Will. Miriam had gone to enroll Will and Ryo in school. She'd told him that she knew he was anxious to catch up with his friends, but to finish unpacking before he ran out.

"There, I think that's it." Will said, flattening out a box and tossing it onto the pile. "What do you want to do now?"

"I'm thinking I'm going to catch up with my friends." Ryo replied. "When I left, it was kind of in a hurry, so we didn't really get any goodbyes." He added guiltily.

"Oh, okay." Will responded awkwardly.

"Sorry." Ryo said sincerely.

"It's okay." Will said with a smile. "I'll just die of boredom in the giant, empty house. I'm totally gonna haunt you."

Ryo grinned back at him. "I'll show you around the city tomorrow, okay?"

"Deal."

--

Ryo could barely keep up with his thoughts as he walked down the street.

_What am I going to say to her?_

The streets had very little traffic on them. Ryo found it strange, considering that it was a Friday afternoon. It was 7:00 pm…late enough that everyone would be back from work, but early enough that nobody would be roaming the streets drunk.

_How about, "Hi, Rika. Sorry about that whole little abandonment thing._"

Ryo sighed as he tried to think of what to say to her.

_I guess I'll know when I see her._

All too soon, he arrived at the Nonaka house, and approached the door. He stood there for a few minutes before he got the courage to force himself to knock on the door. Immediately, his instincts screamed at him to dive into a bush, but he held his ground, and awaited the reply. But there wasn't one. He knocked again, wincing as he did, but still, the outcome was the same.

_She must be out._

Ryo cursed silently, as he'd finally gotten the courage to speak with her, and she wasn't to be found. He headed to the friend's home nearest to Rika's—Kazu.

He walked quickly, knowing that if he got there sooner, he wouldn't have enough time to lose his nerve. He knocked hard on the door, and Kazu opened it, and his mouth opened in shock.

"Hi." Ryo said.

"Ryo, what are you doing here?" Kazu asked.

"Not glad to see me?" Ryo asked with mock-seriousness.

"Well, not really." Kazu admitted. Ryo really hadn't expected it. Kazu had always admired Ryo—starved for his approval, even. Ryo realized that his leaving really did affect more than just him and Rika.

"You know, it's really selfish of you to think that _now_'s the time to come back." Kazu was extremely offensive. "We needed you here months ago."

_Now?_

"I—I'm sorry." Ryo apologized before turning and heading away. He was a few steps down the driveway before Kazu spoke again.

"Nobody wanted you to leave." He said. "None of us. Not even Jeri. But I can't guarantee they'll all be happy to see you."

"Is everyone alright?" Ryo asked suddenly.

"Yeah, everyone's fine." He replied, putting Ryo at ease. "Everyone's at Alice's cottage. They'll be back on Monday."

"Oh." Ryo replied, realizing he wouldn't be able to catch up with his friends for another three days.

"Yeah." Kazu still seemed irritated with him.

"Kazu, I'm really sorry." Ryo forced himself to admit. "I really did want to come back, but I wasn't ready."

Kazu stared at him for a moment before he broke. "It's okay. It didn't help that we didn't know if you were even safe or not, or dead in some ditch. We just really could have used your help keeping everyone together around here."

"What do you mean?" Ryo asked.

"It's just—" Kazu began.

"Kazu! Finish your homework!" Ryo heard Kazu's mother yell.

Kazu sighed. "Look, call me tomorrow, okay?"

"Okay." Ryo said with a nod. "Thanks, Kazu."

"You're welcome." He said. "I'm glad you're okay."

With that, Kazu closed the door, and Ryo was left alone.

--

The next day, Ryo woke up with the sun shining on his face. He tossed the blanket aside, and looked at the clock he'd set on the floor the night before. It read that it was 10:00 am. He sat up, and stood from the mattress on the floor. He was looking forward to getting a new bed, even if the mattress his mother had had delivered was extremely comfortable.

He dug through some of his bags and found a green t-shirt, and a pair of dark blue jeans which he slipped on. He headed downstairs, too hungry to dig through the bags for socks.

He found Will and his mother in the kitchen, which had a new table set up in it. "Good morning." His mother greeted him.

"Morning Miriam." He replied. He still wasn't comfortable calling her 'mom', and he doubted that she was comfortable with him calling her that, either. "What's going on?"

"You're up early for a Saturday." Miriam said with a smirk.

"Trying something new." He sent back.

_More like the sleep wasn't going well_

He stretched, sitting down at the table, looking around for the bowls. It was Will who passed him one, while Miriam set down a box of some chocolate-y cereal.

"What are your plans for today?" his mother asked casually, busying herself with something on the opposite counter.

Ryo noticed Will look at him—testing him to see if he remembered—and he did. "I was gonna take Will around the city, show him around. Is that okay?"

"Of course!" Miriam replied, smiling. "I think that's a great idea. Oh, and the secretary at the school called—the people who deal with admissions are away until Sunday night, so they'll do the paperwork Monday, and you both will start school on Tuesday. Enjoy your long weekend."

Ryo had mixed feelings towards it—on one hand, long weekend. On the other, it might mean that he'd have to wait that much longer to see his friends. He could tell that Will felt the same way, for his own situation.

_Kazu_.

"Excuse me a sec." Ryo said, hurrying to the phone. He took the headset up to his room, dialing Kazu's number on the way.

It rang twice before some answered, Kazu's father answered. "Hello sir, may I speak with Kazu please?" Ryo asked politely.

"He's doing his homework." His father replied abruptly.

"Oh, okay, can you have him call me? It's Ryo, and my number's—" Ryo was cut short by the dial-tone.

_His parents are really tightening the leash on him_.

Ryo suddenly felt a new rush of appreciation for Miriam, as well as guilt for his leaving his father.

He pushed the thoughts aside, and wondered about how to get in touch with his friends.

Realizing that he didn't want Kazu any angrier at him, he decided not to go over there and risk Kazu getting in trouble with his parents. He'd wait until Monday for everyone to get back, and speak with Rika himself. His biggest concern was that he didn't want her finding out that he was back before he could tell her himself.

Ryo grabbed his jacket, and slipped it on. He headed downstairs.

"Are you good to go sometime soon?" Ryo asked Will.

"Yeah," Will said, standing up. "I'm just gonna go grab a sweater." He added as he ran upstairs.

"Thanks for taking him out." Miriam said to Ryo.

"It's no problem. He's a fun guy." Ryo admitted.

He saw his mother smile. "Oh, can you pick up a few groceries on your way back?" she asked hopefully.

"Sure thing." He flashed her a thumb-up. She gave him a short list and some money, and then he and Will were on their way.

--

"So, where do you want to go?" Ryo asked him as they walked down the streets.

"I'm not sure." Will said, looking around. "I really don't know what to be looking for."

Ryo looked around for something that he might find interesting. "Well, there's an arcade over there," Ryo said, pointing. "there's a mall a few blocks down that way, there's—"

"—What's that?" Will interrupted, indicating a large building in the distance.

_Hypnos_.

"Big business thing." Ryo answered.

They walked down the street, Ryo indicating all of the places of interest. They eventually passed by the coffee shop Ryo used to work in. After a quick glance inside to see that nobody he knew was working, Ryo led the way inside.

They hadn't been sitting long before Ryo started to notice the stares of people who he knew recognized him as Ryo Akiyama, Legendary Tamer. He hoped that Will didn't notice, and he hurried his friend out, and they continued.

They talked of things as they walked, and Ryo really stopped paying attention to where they were going. Before he knew it, they were in a large grassy area, the terrain of which was uneven and obscure. It was the remains of the park.

"What's with this place?" Will asked, looking around at the disfigured land formation.

"It used to be a park, but there was an accident." Ryo replied quickly, turning to leave, hoping Will would follow.

No luck.

"What happened?" Will asked innocently.

"It was nothing." Ryo answered, trying to change the subject.

"Please?" Will pleaded.

"How many questions do you have?" Ryo asked with a reluctant smirk.

"At least twelve." Will said definitively.

"Well, you can ask three." Ryo taunted.

He saw Will think hard of which three to ask.

"How does everybody know you?" Will asked him.

"Huh?"

"The people on the streets. They keep pointing at you, and whispering your name to their friends. How do they know you? Are you famous or something?"

_Now or never…_

Ryo decided that if there was any bit of a good time to tell Will everything, it was then.

"That's a big one. It counts for two." Ryo declared, letting himself off the hook."

"Well, a few years ago, there was this portal…" Ryo proceeded to tell him about his adventures in the digital world—where he met Takato, Henry, Rika, Jeri, Kazu, and Kenta. He told him of how the D-Reaper appeared in the real world, and how he came back, and met Alice, and told him of the fight against the D-Reaper, and how the only way to defeat it was to send the digital monsters back to their world.

He told Will of how months ago his friends were being hunted by a monster, and how Ryo was infected with something that would have changed him into one himself. He told him of his relationship with Rika, Takato's death, and how he left his home because of his guilt.

"So this place…" Will asked, looking around the park.

"He died here." Ryo finished for him.

"Oh." Will replied guiltily, avoiding eye contact.

When the two headed back to their home, they walked in silence. Ryo could tell that Will only believed him partly—most likely the stuff about Rika and Takato, as they're the least ridiculous of the tale.

_It's not like you'd have believed something about monsters_.

"Last question?" Ryo asked.

"I think I'll save it for later."

--

As they continued their tour of the city, Will didn't speak of the digital monsters or the events that Ryo had told him of. Ryo knew that he was still processing it all, trying to determine whether or not it was true. Ryo knew that it was something that would take a while, even if Will was very smart. As Ryo's thoughts strayed, they found their way to Rika, and Ryo once again thought of how much he missed her. Her lavender eyes, her red hair, her—

"Scott, look ou—" Will suddenly said, grabbing his arm and pulling him. It pulled him not only towards him, but out of his daydream. Will was too late in doing it though, and Ryo walked straight into a girl who had been walking towards them. She grunted as her head hit Ryo's shoulder, and she dropped her handbag.

"I'm sorry." Ryo said politely, picking up the girl's bag and handing it to her. She looked about a year or so younger than Ryo, probably sixteen. She had long, dark brown hair, and green eyes.

"Ryo." The girl suddenly said. Ryo just looked at her. "You're Ryo."

Ryo furrowed his brow, trying to place her. She looked familiar, but Ryo couldn't figure out from where or when. "Do I know you?"

"A little over a year ago," the girl said, "there was that thing—the D-Reaper?"

"…Yeah?" Ryo replied suspiciously, edging her to continue.

"The little ones…the agents. I got—I got pinned down by them, there were lots of them, and they surrounded me."

Ryo shuddered at the thought of the ordeal, remembering it all too clearly.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"They were going to kill me," she went on, ignoring him, but still looking at him square in the eyes. "But then you came in, and you beat them back. You saved me."

Ryo finally remembered the event—but he was Justimon when it happened, and he never mentioned his name.

"Thank you." She finished.

"It wasn't a big deal…" Ryo murmured.

"Yes, it was." The brown-haired girl said seriously. "You saved my life."

Ryo wasn't sure how to react. It really _hadn't_ been out of his way. He'd saved lots of people in the fight against the D-Reaper—but none of them knew it was him, and they never thanked him for it. Ryo never really thought he'd made a difference to anyone.

"You're welcome." He said, forcing a smile out of the girl. "But how do you know my name?"

"You were Justimon, right? Some friends of yours told me about you. And I remembered your eyes." She said solemnly.

"Who are you?" Ryo repeated himself.

"My name's Mala." She said with a smile. With that, she continued past him, and down the street.

"Weird…" Ryo murmured as she left his sight.

"Scott—er, Ryo?" Will spoke up.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry I didn't totally believe you before." Will said apologetically. "I do now, though. I really do."

Ryo smiled at his friend. "Don't worry about it. I don't think I would have believed it if someone told me the same thing."

"And I still think you're worth looking up to." Will smiled back at him. "So, where's the nearest grocery store?"

"Right. Groceries." Ryo pondered for a second, before he recalled. "There should be a place on the next block."

_Good thing he remembered_.

They spoke more of Ryo's adventures as they walked towards the store, and when they neared, Will spoke up.

"Uh, as exciting as produce is, do you mind if I check out that store over there?" Will pointed, and indicated some cheesy flea-market store across the street. Ryo smiled inwardly at the boy's excitement for being in a new place.

"Sure, I'll just be in here."

"Cool, I'll try not to be long." With a smile and a wave, Will crossed the street and went inside, as Ryo did the same.

--

It took Ryo longer than he'd hoped to get everything on the list. He went to the checkout, and, fortunately, there was no line. There was a man at the cash, looking to be maybe in his 40's.

"Hi." He said warmly.

"Hey." Ryo replied, loading the groceries onto the counter.

"Do I know you?" he said suddenly.

_Everyone's a fan_.

"No, I don't think so." Ryo replied. "How much will this be?"

The man suddenly sighed, as he looked at Ryo. "Lousy punks." He muttered.

Ryo was confused, and stared indignantly at the shop's owner.

_What he talking about_—

"Excuse m—" Ryo began to ask before he figured it out.

Ryo's mind clicked when he realized that the man wasn't staring at him, but out the window. Ryo brought his gaze to what the man was actually looking at, and saw five figures across the street—all teenagers—and one of them was being beaten. Two of the teenagers held the smaller one, while the other two took turns punching him in the stomach. Ryo felt his gut twist as he saw that it was Will who was being held.

_Shit!_

He immediately dropped the bags of groceries he held, and ran out the door. Of course, it was then that traffic decided to pick up, and Ryo froze in confusion as he realized there were too many cars to cross the street.

"_Will!_" he screamed. The thugs who held Will turned and laughed at Ryo, and continued their assault. Will himself only lifted his head slightly, and the pain on his face was enough for Ryo to charge across the road, as a break in the traffic presented itself then.

"_You get away from him!_" Ryo snarled as he charged.

Over the honks of the cars he'd ran in front of, Ryo tackled the first thug to the ground. The thug hit the concrete with a heavy '_oof_', but Ryo knew he still had three to go. He felt one of them pulling him up from the ground, and he instinctively swung an elbow backwards into the boy's gut, and then another to the side of his head. He saw then that the two that held Will had dropped him to the ground, and were coming at Ryo.

He raised his fists defensively, and swung a punch at the nearest thug, before Ryo was shoved hard in his chest, sending him reeling backwards into the wall.

_Too many of 'em—_

But Ryo couldn't give up—he'd promised Will he'd protect him. And that wasn't a promise he was willing to break. He wouldn't fail.

_Not again_.

There were three left, all of whom were either the same size as Ryo, or bigger. The one in the middle looked about the same age, had black hair, and bright green eyes. He grinned smugly at Ryo as he advanced; and Ryo guiltily found the bravado intimidating. It didn't matter, though. Ryo swung a kick into the grinning boy's side, and he stumbled back in a grunt. It was then that the boy on the left pulled out a chain and swung it at Ryo, who tried to duck, but wasn't quick enough.

It hit him hard on the side of the head, and Ryo only managed to get a shove in before he stumbled backwards. The first boy—the one he'd tackled—was now up again, and was heading towards Ryo as well, with the other three behind the one with the chain. He swung it fiercely at Ryo, who managed to duck and back up away from it, but it wasn't helping much—it was just getting him farther away from Will.

Ryo's body tensed up when he saw two of the boys pull knives. Only the black-haired, green-eyed teenager remained unarmed. They advanced towards Ryo, and Ryo continued to back up at the same pace. Ryo tried to look past them to see Will, but to no avail. He was certain that he was in big trouble—

—before one of the boys carrying a knife suddenly fell backwards, revealing a blonde-haired boy behind him, who'd pulled him to the ground.

Ryo saw the black-haired boy stare at Ryo, before he turned and ran away, in the other direction—

—_No, he wasn't staring at me_—

Ryo felt himself get shoved to the side as a brown-haired teenager ran from behind him, and shoved the thug who held the chain. The remaining boy with the knife charged at Ryo, and swung it, while the blonde and brown haired teenagers occupied the other two.

He ducked—the knife barely passing over his ear—and jumped backwards, trying to think of how to disarm his attacker. The next time the boy swung, though, Ryo wasn't able to get out of the way completely, and he felt it graze his left arm. It hurt, but wasn't incapacitating, and Ryo got his chance when the boy next swung it too widely, and Ryo brought up his leg and kicked the knife out of his hand. It went behind the boy, though, so Ryo had no chance of taking it himself.

The thug advanced, and angrily swung a fist into Ryo's cheek—Ryo grunted as he brought his knee into the boy's stomach, causing him to double over. Ryo took the opportunity to step back and kick the boy hard in the face. Ryo stumbled backwards, but managed to keep his footing, but lost hope when the boy too regained his footing, and charged at Ryo.

_Oh fu—_

The boy grabbed Ryo by the shoulders and tossed him aside—against the wall—before sprinting past him and continuing down the street. Ryo grunted and fell to one knee. He looked in the other direction—towards Will—and saw three figures standing, one of whom ran away.

Ryo's head was still spinning, when he felt a hand on his left shoulder. He instinctively grabbed the person's arm with his right hand, but released it immediately when he saw that it wasn't one of the attackers, but the blonde-haired boy who helped scare off the teenagers who attacked Will. Ryo couldn't tell exactly how tall he was, since the boy wasn't standing up straight—but Ryo could tell that he was short. He had light brown eyes, and his hair was longer than Ryo's, and grew in straight, partially covering his ears, and parts of it getting near his eyes.

"Sorry…" the stranger murmured, backing up a step, with his hands in the air, as if surrendering.

"Oh…um...sorry…" Ryo stammered, his head still loopy. "Thanks, I mean. For helping him—I mean, us."

"You're welcome." The blonde teenager said, staring at Ryo. Ryo shifted uncomfortably, seeing that the boy was trying to hide a smile.

_Who the hell is this guy?_

Ryo instinctively thought that the boy was up to something—that he was some sort of threat; and Ryo's old survival instincts from back in the digital world kicked in, and he prepared to defend himself if the boy moved in any threatening way. Ryo didn't break eye contact from the boy, still uncomfortable with the way the boy was looking at him—the boy was looking at Ryo with familiarity, as if he knew him.

Ryo felt guilty for preparing himself for the worst, especially after this boy and his friend had risked their own safety to protect Will.

_Will_—

Ryo instantly shot his gaze to his right, where Will was still on the ground, a little down the street. The brown-haired boy was leaning over him, his back to Ryo.

Ryo stood up and stumbled a little, and hurried towards Will. The blonde-haired boy kept up with Ryo, and Ryo could tell that he was trying to make sure Ryo wouldn't fall.

_Gotta get to him—_

It had been a very unexpected event, the attack. Even more unexpected were the two teenagers who had rushed in to help Will; who had gotten into a fight against bigger people, who were armed, and had come out the winners. But that was _nothing_ to the surprise that came next.

"Cronus!" an impossibly familiar voice called, its owner's back still to Ryo. "This boy's bleeding, we need to get him to a hosp—" it was then that the brown-haired boy turned around, and when Ryo finally got a look at his face.

—and Ryo stopped in his tracks as he stared face-to-face with a very real—and very _alive_ Takato Matsuda.

--

**More Author Stuff:**

Woohoo for Chapter 1's! I hope you enjoyed it—I had initially had the content split into two chapters, but thought it worked better this way if I mixed the fight scene in.

Oh, and if you're wondering who Mala and Cronus are, they're people Takato met in "Flux", which might be worth getting a summary on, which I can totally send you if you drop me a message.

Review if you liked it at all!

-N


	2. Reunions I

I hope you enjoyed chapter 1. This one's a little slow-paced, but it's setting up for a few larger, more interesting story arcs later on. Anyways, big thanks to those who reviewed Chapter 1, I'm glad you liked it.

Incase you're just tuning in, Ryo was in a fight against four people to protect Will, when he was helped by Takato and Cronus (see "Flux" for more info on that).

Peace!

-N

--

"Knowing is not enough; we must apply.

Willing is not enough; we must do."

- Johann von Goethe

--

_He's alive…_

"You…" Ryo stammered.

_You died._

"Ryo." Takato said quietly, only a little bit of surprise evident in his tone.

Ryo was stunned. For three and a half months, Ryo had carried the burden of Takato's death—yet there he was, alive as Ryo.

"How—"

"Aah!" Will suddenly wailed, causing Ryo to rush to his and Takato's side. Will's eyes were squeezed shut, he had bruises on the right side of his face, and the left side of his head was bleeding, running down his cheek, and forming a sticky brown mess in his hair.

"Will!" Ryo called to him, but he still wouldn't open his eyes. Will simply continued to lie there, clenching his eyes harder, grunting in pain—but not crying.

"You know this guy?" Takato asked him. "Who is he?"

Ryo didn't answer Takato, but focused himself on what had to be done. He had promised Will he'd take care of him. That he'd protect him. He rested his brother's head in his right hand, and dialed for an ambulance.

--

"What's his name?" the paramedic asked.

"William Connors." Ryo answered, knowing that Ryo's mother had given Will her maiden name, which she also reverted to after leaving Shinjuku.

"Age?"

"Fifteen."

"Any relation to you?"

"He's my adopted brother."

Ryo raised his gaze to Takato, who's eyebrows arched—Takato's blonde-haired friend, too, looked surprised.

Ryo steadied himself on the seat as the vehicle took a sharp turn. In the ambulance, Ryo only spoke to inform the paramedics of what had happened. He couldn't stop looking at Takato, trying to figure out if it was all really happening. He was going over everything once more when something clicked. Will wasn't responding to anyone talking to him, but was obviously in pain, with his eyes shut and tossing about as if he was having a bad dream.

"Is he going to be okay?" Takato's friend finally asked. Ryo was glad that he did, as he was too scared to—after the boy asked, Ryo just had to be scared about the answer.

"It looks like he's got a concussion, but there doesn't appear to be any massive damage."

Ryo took some comfort in it, but didn't let himself relax.

They'd been in the waiting room at the ER for a few hours. Ryo had tried calling his mother five times—he didn't want to leave the message as blunt as 'Will's in the hospital', so he'd asked the assistant to have Miriam call Ryo Akiyama, but it was evident that it wasn't being passed on. In that time, very little had been said by either, Ryo, Takato, or his friend. Mostly, because Ryo didn't _know_ Takato's friend, and wasn't comfortable talking about personal things either to him or in front of him.

_Then have him leave, and talk to him for crap's sake._

"I'm sorry, but will you please excuse us?" Ryo said to Takato's friend. The blonde teenager nodded to Ryo first, then to Takato, and left the waiting room without saying a word, leaving the two of them alone.

"Takato, where have you been?" Ryo finally found himself able to ask.

Ryo saw Takato look in the direction that his blonde-haired friend had left in before he turned back to Ryo and spoke. He spoke slowly, as if remembering every detail of the situation of which he spoke "When the lab was coming apart…We didn't have much time to get out. But the only way out was sealed from a terminal on one of the lower levels." He began. Ryo remembered it all too well—the look of it, the sounds, the smell—the feel of Rika's pull on his arm, and the wave of sorrow he'd felt when he was absolutely sure that he'd never see his best friend again. But there he was, telling Ryo that things obviously didn't go as he'd thought. "I got to the computer, and I got the door open, but when I was heading back upstairs—a piece of the ceiling came down, and I—I got trapped." To this point in the story, Ryo had already known. But he allowed Takato to speak on without interruption. "I'd—I pretty much had given up hope of getting out of there. But I found this room, and the computer in it had a program that created a portal—"

"You were in the digital world." Ryo finished for him. Takato nodded, and Ryo tried to conceive of how it could have happened. The odds of Takato finding a working computer, let alone being able to access it, added to the time before the generator blew—Ryo never would have counted on his survival. "We thought you were dead."

Takato smiled a little. "Yeah, sorry about that." Ryo wanted to return his friend's smile, but couldn't. This was all too much for him to take in—coming back, then Will's attack, then Takato…Ryo honestly thought he was in the middle of a twisted dream.

"What about you?" Takato asked him. "Where have _you_ been?"

Ryo sighed, thinking of the past three and a half months, of all the thoughts that had ran through his head—the nightmares of the events that made him leave, of everything he'd given up—

"After Rika and I made it out of the lab, I took her home. Then I went to tell your parents what had happened. They were devastated…I told them how you saved us, and they were so proud of you. They kept telling me that I was a great friend to you, but I knew…" Ryo paused, not finishing the rest of the thought, and continued. "They asked me to speak at your funeral. I couldn't say no, but I—I didn't know what to say."

"Everyone told me you did fine." Takato said comfortingly.

_They didn't understand. They don't._

"I didn't tell the truth. Well, not the whole truth." Ryo continued, taking no solace in Takato's optimism.

"What do you mean?" Takato now sounded curious.

"I couldn't tell them that it was my fault."

Takato spoke up, louder than before. "Ryo, it _wasn't_."

"I know it was." Ryo replied with a nod. "You might not think it, but—" he sighed, and let out a chuckle at the absurdity of the situation—apologizing for his very much alive friend's death. "I've had a lot of time to think about it. I should have been more careful. If I hadn't gotten nabbed by Valn in the first place, then—"

"There's no way any of us could have seen that coming." Takato told him. "Just cut the crap, Ryo. Everything worked out fine."

_Just about._

Ryo thought about what Takato told him…that it just _happened_, and none of them could have done anything to stop it. He was starting to believe it—except Takato's reasoning didn't explain how it wouldn't have been Ryo's fault if Takato _had_ died, which he still very nearly did. But he really didn't want to argue with his friend about it anymore. Takato spoke up, evidently seeing that Ryo wasn't going to. "Do you know _why_ I stayed back in the lab?"

_It should have been me. If I knew, I would have._

Ryo couldn't get the words out, so Takato answered for him. "Because of all of us—I thought you and Rika would be the ones to take care of everyone." Ryo felt a _new_ wave of guilt rush over him, as he let the words sink in.

_So I _did_ fail Takato_.

Ryo dropped his chin into his hands, taking in a deep breath. He let Takato in on the last part of his time in Shinjuku.

"After the funeral, Rika came by. We talked for a little bit. She was—she tried to kiss me…and, I pulled away." Ryo knew that Takato knew how he felt about Rika. "I didn't think I could take care of her. That I could protect her. So I left the county, and I've been living with my mom in the States since."

"What changed?" Takato asked him. "Why're you back, I mean? Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything…but—did you come back to pursue a relationship with Rika?"

Ryo looked at his friend, trying to figure out whether or not he approved. Knowing that it was Takato, he knew he could trust him, and he nodded. "Yeah. I hope to."

"So what changed?" Takato repeated.

"I wasn't ready before." Ryo answered.

_Now I am_.

"Ryo, I really don't know if it's such a great idea—" Takato began uncomfortably. "I know how you feel about her and all, but as far as I know, she's still pretty upset with you, and then there's—"

"I messed up, Takato." Ryo interrupted him, causing him to stop mid-speech. "Not just with Rika, but with everyone."

Takato didn't deny it, and Ryo was glad he didn't, because it would have felt patronizing if he had. Ryo wanted to mention the truth about Rika's father, but couldn't bring himself to make Takato carry the burden of that information.

"Yeah, well…" Takato began. "It's not like anyone's been doing well, so it's not just you."

"What do you mean?" he never did find out just how bad things were with him and Takato gone—he ignored Kazu's e-mails because he knew they'd make him come back, and he wasn't ready.

Takato let out a sigh, trying to think of where to begin. "Well, you can't tell anyone this. But Henry was stressed to the point that he tried to run away to the digital world." Takato told him.

Ryo's eyebrows raised as he tried to conceive the thought—Henry was always so cool and collected…Ryo _never_ thought Henry was _capable_ of being overwhelmed.

"How'd that work out for him?" Ryo asked, not exactly sure if Henry was still around.

"Well, he got to the digital world, but instead of finding peace and quiet, he found me, so—I'm gonna go with 'bad'." Takato said with a grin.

_So Henry brought him back_.

"Ah." Ryo said, nodding. "Anyways, it looks like I've got my work cut out for me, what with winning everyone's approval back."

Takato nodded in agreement. "Yeah, it's going to be complicated sorting that all out." A beat passed. "When do we start?"

Ryo couldn't help but smile, and realized then just how much he missed Takato. He was the only friend he'd ever had who'd be there for him at a time like that.

"Anyways…your mom adopted that guy, huh?" Takato said after Ryo couldn't get anything out past his smile.

"Yeah." Ryo affirmed. "His name's Will. He's fifteen. Really nice guy."

"Well that's cool." Takato replied instinctively, and Ryo snickered silently, knowing it was what Takato said when he couldn't think of anything _else_ to say.

Ryo suddenly remembered. "Who's your friend?"

"Hm?"

"The blonde guy that helped beat up those guys. Who is he? I don't think I've seen him at school before or anywhere."

"Ah. Right." Takato said awkwardly. "His name's Cronus. He saved me back in the digital world a bunch of times."

"As great a friendly gesture as any." Ryo said strategically. "He from around here?"

Takato shook his head. "No, he doesn't exactly have a home, so he's living with my family and I.

"Oh." Was Ryo's response.

"Yeah. There's more to it than that, but I need to talk to him about it before I can tell you anything about it." Takato told him. "Sorry, it's just a really unusu—"

"It's cool, I understand." Ryo said sincerely. He was eager to know about him, but it wasn't urgent. "How is Jeri?" he said, unsure of how else to word it. When Ryo had left Shinjuku, she'd been unconscious in a hospital bed. He'd returned when he'd heard that she was awake, but he didn't speak to her—he just had to see with his own eyes that she was okay.

"She's good." Takato said. "Hey, promise me something?"

"You name it, what?"

"Go talk to her. Jeri, I mean. She'd really like to hear from you."

Ryo wasn't crazy about the idea—he still felt guilty enough to be uncomfortable around Jeri, but he knew he couldn't refuse.

"Okay. I will. Promise." Ryo gave in.

"Thanks." Takato said in reply. "She's been—"

"Excuse me, are you here with William?" the doctor said, interrupting Takato.

Ryo stood up, as did Takato.

"Yes." Ryo answered. Anxious, he shifted in place, and waited impatiently for the doctor to tell him something about Will.

"He's going to be fine." The doctor said all-too-slowly, and Ryo exhaled deeply with relief. "He's got a light concussion, though, so we're going to keep him here for a few more hours."

Ryo felt Takato pat him on the shoulder, and Ryo smiled. "Thank you. Can I see him?"

"Yes, but only family members will be allowed in."

Ryo looked at Takaot, not wanting him to leave, but knowing that he had to go to Will.

"It's okay. I'll catch you later. " Takato said to him. He suddenly smiled, and added, "I promise I won't disappear or anything."

"Good." Ryo said with a nod, not joking at all. With that, he headed in to see Will.

--

"Hey, buddy." Ryo said as he entered Will's room, a smile forming on the younger boy's face. "How're you feeling?"

"Oh, I'm okay." Will answered slowly. "What about you?" he asked, "You've got a—a thing there." He added, indicating a place on his own face next to his ear where Ryo assumed he had a bruise on his. Will spoke very sluggishly, and Ryo realized that the painkillers were taking their effect.

"I'm good." Ryo admitted, not noticing the bruise until he touched it himself. Ryo was proud of how well Will was doing—he'd just been beaten to the point of being hospitalized, and was asking about _Ryo's_ well-being. His rationality finally taking control of him, Ryo asked him a question. "Do you remember how the fight started?"

Will didn't show any signs of struggling to remember, and answered him. "I was leaving that store, then there were these four guys—they told me to give them my wallet, and I said no. Then they took it anyways and started hitting me."

_So he got hurt for doing what was right._

"Was there much in it?" Ryo asked him.

"More than I probably should have been carrying." Will guiltily admitted.

"I'm really sorry, man." Ryo told him somewhat guiltily. "I should have been paying closer attention." Ryo silently swore to get back the people who did this if he ever found out who they were.

"Huh?" Will asked, confused. "You _saved_ me from them. I thought when you said you'd protect me back on the plane that you were just sayin' it. How's that work, anyways? I mean, you're pretty cool, but did you really take out _four_ guys by yourself?"

"No," Ryo said, a smile forcing its way onto his face. "I'm not _that_ cool. I had help."

"Who was it, are they here?"

"One's name was Takato, and the other's name was Cronus." Ryo told him.

"Takato…isn't that your friend's name?"

Ryo nodded. "Yeah."

"I'm sorry." Will said quietly, obviously feeling guilty for bringing him up.

"Well, here's the thing…" Ryo began. "It was _him_. He's alive."

"…oh." Will squeaked. "…how?"

Ryo very briefly explained Takato's survival story to him—that he'd escaped to the digital world when the complex was coming down.

"So you just found out he was alive?" Will asked.

Ryo suddenly felt compelled to glance at his watch; it was 4:00 pm. "Well, it's been like four hours, but yeah." Ryo affirmed. "I was pretty surprised to see him, obviously."

"I'm glad that he's okay." Will said sincerely.

_Me too_.

"Is he here?" he suddenly asked, obviously wanting to meet him.

"He just left—the doctor said that only family was allowed in." Ryo explained. "But I'll introduce you to him and Cronus later, once you've gotten better some."

"How long do I have to stay here? To be honest I wasn't really listening to the doctor."

"Well, they said that they're going to have to keep you here for a couple of hours, but that you'll be able to come home tonight."

"Okay." Will suddenly looked around. "Where's mom?"

Ryo felt guilty that he hadn't been able to get a message through to his mother, but was prepared to face the responsibility of letting Will know that. "She's—"

—then, frantically scampering in, came Miriam. She rushed over to Will and threw her arms around him, and he reassured her that he was alright, that Ryo had protected him. Ryo explained the doctor's update—Miriam thanked Ryo for being there when he was, and he told her that he'd always keep an eye out for him.

Ryo suddenly wondered how exactly it was that Miriam knew where to find them—he hadn't told the assistant that they were at the hospital, or even what had happened. Ryo was just about to question her on her presence when the doctor stepped in with a clipboard.

He restated to Miriam what Ryo had told her, and said that he should be ready to go within the hour. After a few more tests, the three of them were out of the hospital, and back at their house;

Will went to bed immediately, and Miriam sat as his bedside. After checking in on them, Ryo looked at the clock, and saw that it was only 6:00 pm.

He suddenly looked at his right hand, and felt curious about the red-brown stein on it, when he realized it was dried blood from when he'd held Will's head back after the fight. Without allowing any further thoughts to arrive from it, he went to one of the bathrooms and scrubbed it off.

Knowing that then was as good a time as any, he headed out towards Jeri's house to fulfill his promise to Takato.

--

Ryo knocked hard on the door to the Kato household. When Jeri answered. She'd grown her hair out longer, Ryo was almost sure, but it was up, so he couldn't be positive. She wore a yellow tank-top and some green jeans. She didn't look all-too-surprised to see him, and he assumed that Takato had given her the heads-up that he'd be coming by.

"How've you been?" Jeri asked him. "It's been a while."

Ryo realized that it _had_ been a while since either of them were in a position to talk. Ryo reflected for a moment before updating Jeri on his life.

"Infected, kidnapped, rescued, guilt, traveling." Ryo said with a nod, hoping he didn't forget anything big. "So—good. You?"

She nodded to him. "Coma, but I got better."

Ryo just found himself nodding, not knowing what he could say. He still felt uncomfortable around her for putting her through thinking that Takato was dead, for however long he was missing.

"Back when we all thought Takato was dead—I—I missed him so much, but—I never blamed you for it, not even for a second."

Ryo didn't orally respond, but allowed her to continue.

"I knew you'd think I would, though—was I right?" she asked.

"Right about what?" Ryo was confused.

"Did you think I hated you?"

"Yeah." Ryo admitted quietly.

She slowly stepped forward, and wrapped her arms around him in a tight hug. It took him a second before he did the same to her—all he could think of as he held her was Rika.

"I really wish you hadn't left—I didn't ever blame you, and I felt horrible that you'd gone."

"To be honest, I'm wishing less and less that I'd left." Ryo confided in her. "How's Rika been?"

Jeri sighed audibly, pulling away from their hug. Ryo assumed she was trying to think of where to start—which made Ryo nervous, because with these kinds of questions it's a bad sign when there's more than one place to start.

"Ryo, you didn't see her...what she was like." Jeri struggled to explain. "They said it was like she was completely empty. Since that night—she's never been the same. She barely even—I don't hear much from her anymore." Jeri continued with a sigh. "She doesn't talk to us much, and when she does, it's not exactly extensive conversation."

"I didn't know…" Ryo murmured. Kazu had mentioned that things weren't great in Shinjuku after he'd left, but he didn't realize it was anything like this. He hadn't known that Rika had retreated into herself so much. "She doesn't even talk to _you_ about personal stuff anymore?" Ryo didn't want by and means to rub it in, but he had to be sure.

Jeri shook her head, confirming it for him. "What made you come back?" she asked him after a moment of silence.

"I needed to be near her again." He told her.

She nodded before she closed her eyes. "I really don't think it's a good idea, Ryo."

"Why not?"

"She's not the same person as when you left."

"I need to try." He did, and he knew that _she_ knew he did. She seemed to accept it, at least for a moment.

"You know that she's never actually _liked_ being alone, even if she said she did. And without any of us there, it was just… Just remember that she's not some damsel-in-distress. She might _need_ rescuing, even if it's from herself—and she might even know it, but she won't be thrilled if it's by you. "

After that, they made some small conversation about school and some other people for a good few hours before Ryo announced that he needed to get back home. Specifically, he needed to go and think.

--

Ryo was lying on his bed staring at the ceiling the next morning. He thought about what Jeri had told him, about how he couldn't understand what Rika was like when he left. He wanted to, but he knew that Jeri was right—he couldn't understand.

_You didn't see her…what she was like._

Ryo shifted under his blankets as he contemplated Jeri's words. He'd left Rika so that he wouldn't hurt her…it seemed that he couldn't even do that right. 'Empty', Jeri had described her as. The Rika that Ryo knew never had the enthusiasm that he, Takato, or Kazu had, but was far from empty—she always had a way about her that made Ryo wonder what it was that she was thinking, what she'd do next, what she'd—Ryo sighed, realizing that he should have known what his leaving would have done to Rika.

_You know, it's really selfish of you to think that now's the time to come back._

Ryo frowned suddenly, understanding what it was that Kazu meant—he'd thought that Ryo _knew_ Takato was back. They probably sent him e-mails to let him know, but Ryo'd closed off his own access to that account. He never got them, and they just thought he was ignoring them.

It was discouraging—Takato and Jeri both telling him that going after Rika wasn't a good idea. He knew he didn't know the whole story with what Rika'd been going through, but he knew he'd find out soon enough.

_I don't need you to fight for me, I just need you._

"Rika…" he whispered silently. "Oh God, I'm so sorry Rika."

_I never meant for things to happen this way. I thought I was doing what was right, but I was wrong. I was trying to protect you, and all I did was hurt you. Before you'd come by that night, I'd already made up my mind to leave—and when you told me you loved me, I—_

Ryo knew that he had to see her.

_I can't have her hating me._

Ryo decided that he'd go to the school to see her, even if it was just for that. Takato and Jeri were right—he couldn't expect her to just forgive him—he'd have to work at earning back her trust. He wasn't supposed to start school until Tuesday, and it was only Monday, so he had no commitments while he was there. He put on a shirt and changed into some jeans.

Will was to stay at home, as per the doctor's orders, and according to him, he was bored out of his mind. He was doing well after the attack—but he was frustrated more than anything that something like that would happen for no reason. He was also bothered that he'd have to start school up to a few days later, knowing that that probably wouldn't help him either academically or socially. Ryo had just encouraged him by telling him it was for the best.

He headed towards the high school, reminded of how he'd been enrolled there before, but had ran off to the digital world. When he came back during the D-Reaper incident, he'd had to take make-up classes so that he wouldn't fail—he could tell that the teachers were bothered that he did so well on them without their full instruction, but Ryo didn't really care. He only stayed back because of his friends anyways—not that he had any other place to go, since the digital world was closed off.

Rika had switched to that school a year before, after she'd made friends among the Tamers. Ryo remembered how happy he was that she'd be closer the day he found out. It was 11:45 when he arrived there—everyone would be getting out for lunch soon enough. He wandered the halls aimlessly trying to pass the time, but not finding that it worked. He tried to occupy himself by going to all of the lockers he'd had there, but he really couldn't remember where any of them were. He had more important things on his mind.

_What am I going to say to her? Rika, I know what I did was selfish, but—no, that doesn't begin to describe what happened…Rika, can I talk to you? Looks, I've had a lot of time to think—no, that's no good either. Rika, I'm so sorry. I wasn't ready before, but I am now…Damnit!_

Ryo smashed a fist against a locker as he let out a sigh. It wasn't like he could trust that the right words would come to him when he saw her, either—Ryo was great at talking to girls, but Rika was the exception. He'd never been able to say the right things to her, but he couldn't afford then to say the wrong thing.

Ryo's thoughts were interrupted as the bell rang, and students poured from their classes. Ryo didn't know where to begin looking for her, so he wandered around the school in hopes of finding her.

As he wandered the halls again, he saw several people point at him and whisper to their friends, and he wasn't sure if it was because he was famous, because he'd been missing, or because they all hated him for what he'd done to Rika. The first familiar face that he _wanted_ to see belonged to Henry, who was walking down the hall past him, holding the hand of the brown-haired girl, Mala, that he'd met on the street the day before.

"Hey, Henry." Ryo greeted him. Henry, however, just offered him an acknowledging nod, and continued past him. Mala only managed to give him a weak yet supportive smile before she too was past him. Ryo felt a sharp pain in his gut as it really sunk in that he'd lost so many of his friends. He held strong, though, and continued to search for Rika so that he could explain things to her.

As he turned a corner, he felt a small hand on his arm, and he spun around to find Jeri looking at him with an anxiousness on her face.

"Ryo, what are you doing here?" she asked him quietly.

"I need to see her, Jeri." He told her. She shifted uncomfortably, and looked quickly to both ends of the hallway, probably scouting for Rika. She then quickly opened the door to a classroom behind her, and pulled Ryo inside, closing it just as quickly.

"Ryo, I really don't think you should have come here—" she said desperately.

"Why? Jeri, I _need_ to see her, it's been almost four months." Ryo protested. He knew that he didn't have to listen to Jeri, but as one of Rika's friends, he knew that her input was valuable. Besides, he didn't exactly trust his own judgment lately.

"I thought you said that you wouldn't be here until tomorrow…" Jeri struggled to say politely. Ryo wasn't sure what she was getting at. "Why're you—"

"I love her." Ryo interrupted her. Jeri seemed shocked to hear this, which Ryo found surprising. He thought that she knew. He thought that they all knew. "I need to tell her."

"Oh, God…" Jeri whispered, her face whitening before turning to sorrow. "Ryo, I'm so sorry, I—I didn't want you to find out like this, but Rika's—she got over you—she's been seeing someone."

--

Well, there's chapter 2 for you. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, your support is very much appreciated…it's really motivating to work on the next chapter when you know people are actually reading—thanks again!

Sorry that Rika still hasn't made an appearance, but I promise she will in the next chapter. Hm, what happens… So far, it's looking like Ryo gives/gets some more information from Takato, and Ryo finally confronts Rika. I remember reading once that in Ryuki fics bad stuff always seems to happen to Rika…'Poor Ryo', you say? Oh, it gets worse. :P There might even be a fight scene! (No, not between Ryo and Rika).

One more thing; I'm at a loss of what to read lately, so can anyone suggest some good Ryuki fics to read? You can contact me on my forum if you've any suggstions. Thanks!

Review if you liked it…please?

-N


	3. Reunions II

**Author's Ramblings:**

Hey guys, here's the next chapter. I'm trying to make the chapters in this story longer than in the other three. I'm still working out how this story will flow—I've been trying to figure out how exactly this story'll go. I know overall what I want to happen, but I'm still stuck on just how much I can use Rika's POV without giving away too much of how/if/when her feelings for him will change.

Alright, so I haven't given up on this story, but I've got an awesome idea for a different story that's gonna take place after this one. It's gonna be a big project—I've got sixteen chapters for it planned out, but that ends with a giant cliffhanger, so if the interest is good enough once it gets going, it can easily be continued. Even if it ends at the sixteen mark, though, it'll still be a decent ending. It'll be awesome, though, promise.

Anyways, back to this one—my problem with this story is that I can't write something that doesn't have monsters, superpowers, or both in it. So this whole 'drama' bit's a little slow for my taste. I just don't want to write a big long chapter then have people feel bored by the end of it. I haven't given up on this story, though, so I'm still going to try my hardest.

Wish me luck, and I hope you enjoy!

-N

--

**Chapter 3: Reunions (Part II)**

"Don't dwell on what went wrong.

Instead, focus on what to do next.

Spend your energies moving forward

Toward finding the answer."

- Denis Waitley

--

_No._

Ryo didn't even realize he'd whispered it aloud until he saw the look on Jeri's face become even more sympathetic.

"I'm so sorry, Ryo."

_She's over you._

Of course she was. What was Ryo thinking, that he'd just come back and sweep her off her feet? Rika's one of a kind, obviously she'd move on.

_Doesn't mean I wanted her to_.

"She's…" Ryo began, but stopped as if someone was interrupting him. Perhaps he was hoping someone _would_ so he wouldn't have to think of anything to say. But only silence followed.

"His name's Adam." Jeri said quietly. "They've been together for about two months now."

_Adam?_

Ryo suddenly felt light-headed, as he tried to wrap himself around the details he didn't want to hear, the details he couldn't find the strength to ask for the end of.

"He treats her really well, and she's been a lot happier since—" she stopped then, but she didn't need to finish, as Ryo knew damn well what she was about to say.

_Since me._

"I have to go." Ryo said absentmindedly.

Ryo turned to leave the room into the crowded hallway,

Jeri called after him, and even reached for his arm, but he was already out the door, and pushing through the crowds. He was halfway down the hall before she caught up with him.

"Ryo?" Jeri called. "Ryo, wait." She wrapped a small hand around his, and he reluctantly stopped. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." Ryo lied. "Everything's fine. Everyone, even."

She stared at him, and Ryo recognized disappointment in her gaze, disappointment in that he wasn't telling her the truth.

"Jeri, I really thought she'd—" he began quietly, leaning in to speak to her.

He was cut off by the pain of his nose hitting Jeri's forehead, as someone bumped into him from behind, hard.

"Out of the damn way!" a boy's voice snapped angrily.

Ryo grit his teeth and spun around, in no mood to deal with it, but knowing it might make him feel better. Ryo thought he recognized the boy as one of the ones who was forever behind the school smoking, but he wasn't sure.

"You hear me!" the boy shouted. "_Move_!"

Ryo found the sight peculiar, especially since the boy was only a little taller than Jeri. Ryo glanced at Jeri to make sure she was okay before he put a hand on each of the boy's shoulders and threw him aside. He was light, and Ryo knew he didn't hurt him, but got him out of the way. Ryo then took the opportunity to get back to his initial plan of storming out.

--

Rika had been at her locker getting ready for her chemistry class when she realized she'd forgotten her notes at home.

_Shit_.

She frowned, but didn't let it trouble her long when she concluded that she'd rather not go anyways. In the instant, she weighed the appeals of going to class versus the appeals of going to get some food, and came up hungry. She was acing all her classes anyways—it didn't seem worth her time to listen to one of her teachers talk for over an hour when the textbook was quite sufficient. She had tossed her binder carelessly into her locker before something caught her attention.

Mindless high school gossip. Or at least that's what she'd thought at first.

"I heard it was 'cause his family went poor." A girl said as-a-matter-of-fact-ly.

"No way, he left 'cause he's been crazy since a year ago, and someone found him out."

_Ugh_.

Rika really wasn't in the mood for hearing about Ryo. Almost a month after he took off, and he was still the talk of the city. Four weeks, actually. Three weeks since Ryo rejected her and basically disappeared off the face of the earth. Rika'd adapted in that time. Quickly, even. Thinking about him still hurt her, a lot. She wasn't sure if she hated him, though.

"Why would he've gone crazy? He was the coolest one next to those redheaded chicks."

_Heh._

Rika couldn't help but stifle the smile that crept over her face. She'd accepted that she couldn't have forced Ryo to stay and be with her, and to assume that she could would have been preposterous. But that didn't mean she never wished it. If she were to hate him, it would be for what happened _because_ he left. Her friends all treated her differently, and it hurt her because of it. They were always sympathetic, and it made it impossible for her to move on. Jeri had just woken up a week before—she'd been devastated to learn of Takato's death, but was coping. She'd cried to Rika when she'd told her. A lot. But if Rika were to hate Ryo for anything else, it'd be because of how dead she felt inside—she couldn't find it in herself to cry with Jeri for the death of a friend that Rika too loved.

Since that, she'd retreated into herself. She avoided talking to the other Tamers as much as she could just so she wouldn't have to deal with their sympathy, however good their intentions were. It hurt her to do so—to go back to the cold, loner-Rika she was before she'd met them all. In truth, she hadn't. She didn't even think she'd even changed much at all…but the others had to think she did. She couldn't stand the way she knew they were always talking about her while never really talking _to _her. Her grades, however, skyrocketed at the simple cost of her social life.

Rika stuffed a few books into her backpack, going through a mental checklist of whatever she might need.

"He's probably gotten himself killed by now anyways." One of the boys muttered.

Rika sighed inwardly.

_Yeah, that sounds like something he'd do too._

She pulled the backpack out of the locker, and closed it. When she swung the bag over her shoulder though, an "oof" made her spin around, her face red with embarrassment.

"Crap, I'm so sorry." Rika said sincerely, still embarrassed. She bit her tongue, realizing she'd let it slip that she wasn't the Ice-Bitch she had to pretend she was.

The boy she'd clobbered let out a little laugh and managed to smile, rubbing his temple with one hand—

—and Rika found herself staring into the second-most-beautiful pair of eyes she'd seen. And she wasn't sure why she did what she did next, but she introduced herself.

"I'm Rika."

"My name's Adam."

--

He took his time in getting back to his house. More so because he wasn't paying attention and was walking toward his father's old house which was in the opposite direction.

Ryo groaned silently when he realized the flaws in his navigational skills. Or perhaps, it was from how it was a blatant reminder of what he'd left behind. One thought echoed—no, bounced around in his mind.

_Why'd you give her up?_

He wasn't so sure anymore. He left because he knew he didn't think he could take care of her. But he still wasn't. But if he _chose_ not to be with her, why was he so shocked that she chose to be with someone else?

When he eventually made it back to his house, he headed straight for Will's room, but noticed Miriam in the kitchen.

"Hey, Ryo." She called.

"Hi." He replied as happily as he could. Ryo had turned to head up the stairs before he noticed something in her expression. "Everything alright?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." She answered. "Will's been bored to tears, though, I'm afraid."

Ryo nodded, not really listening, but trying to figure out what looked different about her. Her face was pale, and lacked the certain noticeable glow she usually had. She just looked drained. "You're sure you're okay."

"One hundred percent." She declared with a nod. "How was visiting the school?" she suddenly asked, curious.

Ryo winced visibly, which caused her to do the same. "Not great."

She nodded, and he realized that she knew he really didn't feel like talking about it.

After a few seconds of awkward silence, he told her he wanted to see Will, and headed upstairs.

Will was in his bed, leaning against the back of it. He was wearing a white t-shirt and some navy pajama bottoms, and he was occupying himself with building a house of cards on his lap. Not cards, though—

"Are those the Monopoly properties?" Ryo asked, confused.

"They work better anyways." Will declared. "And I realized after I actually played with the Etch-a-Sketch and the Hot Wheels that I'm too bored here to be picky. And I think mom thinks I'm six."

"It's sadistic, really." Ryo snickered. "She hasn't let you out of the room yet?"

"Barely." Will nodded, his movement knocking down the paper structure. "Crap."

Ryo suddenly didn't feel as compelled to be alone to mope.

"Do you feel like going for a walk later?" he asked him.

Will's expression lit up, but only for a second. "You think mom'll let me?"

Ryo nodded. "As long as you feel comfortable with it." He knew Will would be, he just wasn't expecting it. If it had been Ryo who'd been the one to be jumped, he wasn't sure how he'd feel about going back out so soon. "Alright. I'm gonna go take a quick nap, but we'll head out around six?"

"Okay." Will nodded. "That works."

"Okay." Ryo repeated with an affirming nod. "We'll go sometime after dinner. The city looks awesome at night when all the buildings light up. You'll love it." Ryo saw a weak smile on Will's face, which looked somewhat forced. Ryo didn't really mind, though, he actually appreciated that someone was putting effort in to spare his feelings. It was a whole lot more than what he'd been becoming accustomed to.

Dinner was steak and potatoes. Ryo never really liked potatoes, but he was hungry enough that he ate a lot, and he ate quickly. Although, part of that may have been due to the fact that nobody was talking. Ryo had run it by Miriam that he would be going out with Will that evening. She actually was in great favor of the idea, since it'd do him no good being cooped up all day, and she was glad that he was actually _willing_ to go back out after what had happened.

Ryo took him around the downtown area of the city. All of the skyscrapers were lit up, and Will actually did seem to enjoy it, and Ryo was pretty sure he wasn't pretending.

"I'm thirsty." Will stated blatantly, indicating he wanted to go into the restaurant they were passing for a drink.

Ryo snickered before realizing that it was the coffee shop he worked at, and where he last saw Rika.

"Yeah, okay." Ryo answered, knowing he couldn't let something as trivial as that hold him back. Ryo looked at the waitress as he entered. It wasn't anyone he recognized, so he wouldn't have to talk to her. Bonus. He ordered a pair of cokes for him and Will, which she set next to the cash promptly.

Ryo's attention was suddenly taken by a series of curses from one person during the laughter of another. A glance to the side beheld a very frustrated Takato doing his homework, Cronus at his side.

"Hey, Takato." Ryo said. It was weird; he still thought he was crazy when he saw Takato. Especially since he wasn't around for Takato's return, it made him the only one still surprised to see him. He also wasn't used to seeing Takato next to that blonde guy. "Hey, Cronus. What's up?"

"Math." Takato said with some faux-excitement. Ryo snickered a little, recalling just how many hours he'd heard Takato bitch about math. From the look of the chicken-scratches in the book, it looked to be geometry. Cronus didn't appear to be doing anything other than keeping Takato company, as he had no work in front of him, except what tipped over from the pile in front of Takato. He sipped at his cup of coffee, indicating the pile of crumpled paper on the floor in front of Takato, snickering quietly.

Ryo smiled too. "Going well, then?"

"Wonderful." Takato muttered, before noticing Will behind Ryo, who was shifting from one foot to the other. "This must be Will?"

Will nearly jumped at the mention of his name. "Y-yes, hello…it's nice to meet you." He said nervously, causing Ryo to push him forward.

"Will, relax." Ryo said with a chuckle, sitting down at the table next to Takato and Cronus. Will didn't answer, but just smiled and sat down. But when Takato next swore at his homework, Will—to Ryo's surprise—walked over.

"Can I see?" he asked.

"Go for it." Takato said in defeat, resting his head on the table, his cheek flattening against the glass.

After a few seconds, Will raised an eyebrow. "Is it 3y squared – x?"

"That's what I said." Cronus suddenly chimed in.

"Nah, the book says it's 4y squared – x." Takato said quietly, his face still against the table.

"Th—the book's wrong." Will said with a nervous laugh. "It's 3y squared – x."

"I said that too." Cronus grinned.

"Okay." Takato grumbled, sitting up and closing his book. Ryo was worried that Will wouldn't realize Takato's little tantrum was a joke, but was relieved to see that he was enjoying it. "Smart kids go sit over there."

Cronus shrugged and walked off to where Takato indicated and sat down, still with nothing apparent to do. He indicated for Will to follow, who looked to Ryo for some kind of approval before he actually did.

Ryo stood up from his table and walked to Takato's, the crumpled paper under his feet almost causing him to slip.

"So how's life? Math-world aside, I mean." Ryo asked.

"Been worse." Takato shrugged. "You?"

"Been better." Ryo admitted.

Takato winced. "Something happen?"

Ryo thought on it a moment, trying to figure out where to begin. "Well, I feel like flew half-way around the world to be kicked in the stomach a few dozen times." Takato gave him a puzzled look. "I heard about that Adam guy today."

Takato didn't look altogether surprised, which wasn't shocking to Ryo, as he figured Takato already knew. "I'm sorry, man."

"It's okay." Ryo pretended. "It just took me by surprise is all. I mean—I'm glad she's—well, I _want_ to be happy for her, it's just—"

"Yeah, I know." Takato murmured, letting him off the hook.

"Jeri told me that Rika's been really happy with him." Ryo added absentmindedly.

Takato frowned sympathetically. "She has, yeah."

"What do you think of him?" Ryo asked suddenly, which seemed to take Takato off-guard.

"Me? Well, I don't know, really…Rika hasn't been around much, and I don't get to see people other than Jeri much as it is. Have had my hands full lately."

As if on queue, their conversation was interrupted with Will bursting into a fit of laughter. Cronus smiled at his cup before he too joined in and laughed. Ryo smiled at the two of them.

"How's it going with your mom?" Takato asked suddenly.

"Well, actually." Ryo reported. "There seems to be some sort of 'Conservation-of-Tolerance in my family. I can only get along with one parent at a time."

"Your dad, then?" Takato asked.

"Haven't heard from him since I left. Tried calling back from the States, too. The current living situation isn't bad, though."

"Will seems nice." Takato said, obviously changing the subject, which Ryo didn't really mind.

"Yeah." Ryo agreed. "He's a good guy. Doesn't make friends too easily, I'm afraid, so it's good to see the two of them getting along at least."

Takato shrugged. "Well, we're all a bunch of freaks ourselves, so I'm sure we'll get along fine enough."

Ryo chuckled. "That's true."

"Oh, speaking of that," Takato began. "Cronus said it's cool for me to tell you."

_Tell me?_

Ryo almost didn't know what the hell Takato was talking about before he remembered that he'd asked about what Cronus's deal was.

"Right." Ryo recalled, remembering. He wondered how interesting it could really be, but would be glad to take the opportunity to get his mind of Rika for a few minutes.

"Well, as it turns out, Valn did some other experiments on the digital world before the monster. Turned a whole section of the digital world into something human, including any digital life that went there."

Ryo thought about what Takato had said. "So he's a digimon?"

Takato nodded. "Guilmon, actually."

Ryo's eyes widened, not really sure what to say. It explained Cronus being happy to see him the other day, but it was still a lot to take in, especially at that time.

"So he's human now…?" Ryo restated quietly, looking over at him. It put some things in perspective for him. If Ryo had passed him on the street, he would have thought that he was just another regular guy.

Takato nodded. "Through-and-through."

"How's he doing?"

"Pretty well, actually. He had the choice of staying human or not when we were leaving the real world, so it was his choice, you know? It's hard not to mess with him sometimes, though. We had spaghetti for dinner one so I put it on a plate and just gave him a spoon." Takato laughed. "He was getting so pissed off—'Mrs. Matsuda, my food is being difficult.'"

"That's—really terrible." Ryo tried to scold, stifling a laugh.

"Yeah, well, when you weren't around it left me with all this pent-up-prank that just sorta leaks out." Takato nodded philosophically.

It was weird, whenever anyone else had mentioned his not-being-there it left Ryo feeling guilty, whether or not it was their intention, but Takato had him laughing.

_Really is good to be home at any rate._

"Who knows about him?" Ryo asked.

Takato thought for a moment. "Us, Henry, him, Mala, and Jeri."

_Mala?_

Ryo realized that it was Takato who had told that girl he met on the street a few days previously about him.

"He fought really well the other day." Ryo recalled.

"Yeah, he did." Takato nodded. "Wasn't sure if he could still do that."

"Still?" Ryo asked, curious.

"He was all super-strong back in the digital world." Takato explained. "Looks like he remembers how to fight, even if the strength's been cut down. The whole mind-reading thing led to some monumentally awkward conversations later." He finished.

"Oh." Ryo responded, still putting pieces together, trying to forget that last part. "How strong were we talking, here?"

"Well," Takato contemplated. "At the very least that I know of, he took out three monsters and Dr. Nonaka by himself."

…_What?_

"What did you say?" Ryo asked quietly.

"Huh?" Takato looked confused, before his jaw dropped and his eyes widened. "Shit." He sighed.

"You _know_?" Ryo asked in disbelief. Ryo thought that only him and Valn knew that the monster was Rika's father.

"Wait, _you_ know?" Takato asked. "How do you know?"

"Valn told me." Ryo answered. "You?"

"Yamaki told me." Takato responded. A moment passed. "Damn."

"You know she can't know, righ—" Ryo began worriedly.

"No, never, no." Takato said with a shiver.

Ryo's stomach twisted as he recalled those events. "It's pretty scary, to see what that virus did to him—what it almost did to me, too, I mean."

"Yeah." Takato said quietly. "That was pretty scary, too."

"Thanks for coming to rescue me back then, by the way." Ryo told him. "Was definitely needing to see a friendly face there."

"No problem, wasn't gonna let you get all tentacle-y and monstrous."

"Didn't give up on me, eh?"

"Nah." Takato replied, leaning back in the chair. "The bigger pain in the ass was not having any idea _when_ you'd go all freakshow on us."

Ryo recalled that Takato had pretty much kept everyone away from him back when he was recovering.

"Wuss." Ryo grinned.

"I wasn't worried that much." Takato shifted, sounding thoughtful. "If you were to mutate that would mean you'd change, and we both know you're way too stubborn for that."

Ryo's mouth opened but couldn't come up with anything. Defeated, he shifted around in his seat. "I hate you."

"Uh huh."

Another fit of laughter rose from the other table, during which Will declaring to Cronus, "You're really weird."

Takato called to them. "If you two are telling math jokes I'm going to recommend we disown you both."

Ryo joined in. "I second that."

Will gathered himself before he spoke again. "No, no. Cronus's just telling me funny stories about stuff back in the digital world."

Takato and Ryo shot glances at each other.

"Okay, so he knows, too." Takato proclaimed.

--

Ryo slept well that night. Great, even. He felt refreshed in the morning, and wasn't nervous or worried or anything about going to school. It was going like any other, _normal _day would. He didn't even think about Rika.

That is, until after his third-period class. He had taken off from Physics early, and was heading to his locker when the one other person in the hall was the one he both did and didn't want to see.

"…Ryo." She said after a glance, returning her attention to removing her books from her locker.

"Yeah." He murmured, not sure what to say. "I'm back."

"I see that." She declared sarcastically.

_Now or never_.

"Can I talk to you?" Ryo asked.

"Free country." She muttered, obviously hurrying to force the books into her backpack.

"I needed to tell, you, I'm s—"

She suddenly spun around to face him, interrupting him, her expression suddenly turning to anger. "Don't you _dare_ say you're sorry, Ryo Akiyama." She said coldly. "It's not enough." She turned back to her locker, busying herself with something in there.

"Well, I am." Ryo finished quietly. She turned to leave, and had taken two steps before Ryo spoke again, causing her to stop. "Leaving, I—I made a mistake."

"…scumbag." She muttered quietly.

"Huh?"

"I _said_, _scumbag_." Rika growled, articulating loudly. Her gaze still remained trained on the books in her hands.

"What are you—"

"_You_." She said coldly, swinging her backpack off of her shoulder and dropping it at her feet. She stepped towards him as she spoke. "You're pathetic. You could have any of the girls here, and you know it. It's just like you to pick the one who knows who you really are. You don't like being alone? You're upset? That's not my problem. Not after what happened."

"I know." Ryo admitted quietly.

"I'm seeing someone." Rika said suddenly. Even though Ryo already knew, he realized a part of him must have hoped it was just a rumor, because it hurt him deeply to hear. She stared him down, and he turned to leave, nothing else he could think of to say to her that wouldn't make her angrier. He heard someone hurry around the corner at the sound of her voice, but he didn't turn.

"Is everything alright?" a male voice spoke to Rika, behind Ryo's back.

_Must be Adam_.

Ryo's curiosity got the best of him, and he instinctively turned around to see who it was that had managed to win over Rika—

—and Ryo's blood boiled when he saw Adam's face.

"You…" he whispered through gritted teeth, so quietly that no sound came out.

Ryo charged at Adam, taking him by surprise, his green eyes widening in shock and his body visibly locking up before Ryo threw himself onto him, knocking him to the ground.

"_Ryo!_" Rika shouted. "What the _hell_ are you _doing_!"

Ryo ignored her, his rage completely blinding him. He punched Adam's face hard before Adam managed to get a strike back at him, in the jaw. Ryo wasn't remotely fazed, though, and swung a single punch as hard as he could into the boy's side. He let out a cry of agony that only made Ryo more furious.

He was in the midst of a series of punches to the boy's face when strong hands pulled him off of Adam.

"Ryo! Calm down!" Henry ordered, holding him back.

"Get _off of me_!" Ryo hissed as he struggled to break free of Henry's grasp. Adam had gotten to his feet and taken only a step forward before he was grabbed from behind by Kazu, who restrained him, holding him in place. Kazu was putting a lot of effort into it, as he was smaller than Adam. Rika stared at Ryo furiously, and he guiltily didn't care, staring past her, and directly into Adam's green eyes.

"What the fuck's going on!" Kazu questioned desperately, his hold obviously loosening.

"What the hell's your problem!" Adam demanded as he broke free from Kazu and moved himself in front of Rika.

"_You_!" Ryo yelled loudly. "You're the son of a bitch who mugged my brother!"

Ryo felt Henry's grip on him tighten, while Rika's and Kazu's faces turned to shock. Nobody spoke until Ryo clamed himself enough to stop fighting against Henry, who then let go of him.

"You want to repeat that?" Henry demanded from him sternly.

"Two days ago! He was one of the guys who mugged my brother."

"You have a brother now?" Kazu asked curiously, evidently losing track of what was happening.

Ryo sighed desperately, looking around frantically to see that a few more people had passed into the hallway and were heading towards them out of interest. Among them, a short blonde-haired kid that Ryo was all-too-happy to see.

"What's going on here?" Cronus asked.

"Ask him!" Ryo declared to Henry and Kazu. "He was there!"

"Ask me what?" Cronus asked slowly, sounding nervous.

"Him, that guy, Adam—" Ryo stammered, pointing to him frantically. "He was one of those guys that jumped Will! Tell them!" Ryo was pleading, but things started to make sense for him when Cronus didn't reply immediately. Adam hadn't been running away from Ryo in that fight, he'd been running from Takato and Cronus. So they wouldn't recognize him.

"I'm sorry Ryo, I wasn't—I mean, I didn't see—" Cronus stammered awkwardly.

Ryo's gaze shot around, from Rika, to Henry, to Kazu, to Adam, to Cronus, to the many others who had joined the gathering, many of whom he recognized, but didn't know the names of.

Ryo knew that he was right. He'd been in a few fights in his life, and he remembered them quite vividly. He'd burned Adam's face into his mind when they'd been fighting—it was why Ryo'd kicked him in the side just then—it was right where he'd hit him before. Adam wouldn't have reacted as much as he did in the hallway if it wasn't already sensitive from their fight two days before.

He stared at Adam again, his hatred burning his blood. It wasn't until Rika spoke that Ryo broke his glare.

"Everyone get out of here." Rika ordered adamantly. "I want to talk to Ryo alone."

"He's crazy." Adam murmured to her but not looking at her, his eyes still trained on Ryo.

"I'll be fine." Rika affirmed. "I'll meet you in the car in a few minutes?"

"Okay." Adam answered quietly, before backing up a few steps and turning around. As he left, he shot a few looks back to her.

Henry and Kazu too began to leave, but not before Henry could whisper to Ryo, "Don't you dare try anything stupid."

Ryo would have smacked Henry good for implying that he'd touch Rika if it wouldn't have been a huge detriment to his cause—that and that he knew that Henry could kick his ass hard.

The randoms, too began to leave, murmuring things to each other about Ryo Akiyama losing his mind. Cronus mouthed the words 'I'm sorry' to him before he too, left Rika and Ryo alone.

"Let me make this abundantly clear for you, Ryo Akiyama." Rika said with surprisingly little emotion in her voice at all. "You and me? We're not dating. We're not friends. You gave all of that up. So don't you dare come here to invade my life and attack someone I care about just because you're jealous that nobody cares about you."

As must as each of her words stung him painfully, he had the strength in him to speak back to her.

"This wasn't _about_ you." He repeated to her. "He _attacked_ someone. A helpless kid. He could have _killed_ him—Hell, he probably _would_ have killed him, and he could have killed me." Ryo believed it. Will was small, and he wasn't fighting back, and they were still hitting him. Ryo involuntarily replayed the scene in his head again stifling the shiver that came to him after it.

"Adam wouldn't do that." Rika declared defensively, though still not raising her voice.

Ryo's heart sank as he could see just how strong her loyalty towards him was. He dropped his gaze to the floor as his helplessness took over him. He knew that he didn't deserve her trust, but he wanted it anyways. He needed it.

"Rika, you've got to believe me." He spoke with the deepest of sincerity, trying to reach any small amount of trust Rika might have still had for him.

His own blue eyes met with hers then, an ocean of lavender staring back at him. In that while, as he pleaded for her trust, he felt everything he'd ever felt for her as he relived his life of knowing her—the rivalry, the attraction, the teasing, the need to protect her, his desire to be honest with her, the trust, the teamwork, and the love.

He could tell that she was no longer looking at him with resentment, contempt, hatred—none of it. And Ryo knew that he was staring back at the real Rika. Her lips parted slowly as she stared at him, her breath barely escaping as she prepared to speak.

"I can't." she said quietly—Ryo's insides twisted at the words, uncertain if she'd intentionally picked the same ones he'd said to her months earlier. "Not anymore."

And, just as he did to her fourteen weeks before, Rika turned and walked away from him, in the moment that he needed her most.

--

Sorry the update took so long to get, things should be moving on a little quicker from here on out.

Review, please!

-N


	4. The Thing About Will

--

"No matter what you've done for yourself or for humanity,

if you can't look back on having given love

and attention to your own family,

what have you really accomplished?"

- Lee Iacocca

--

Ryo walked home in a daze. It wasn't until about a third into the walk that the pain began to set in. It turned out that Adam must have landed more hits on him than he thought. He spent the rest of the time focusing on dealing with the pain—it at least took his mind off of the rest of the crap in his life.

Even though he was walking a little strangely because of the pain, he made it home in a comparable amount of time as he would have otherwise. He knew he'd be alone at his place, since Will would still be at school and his mother would be at work.

He sighed knowing he'd have to go back to get Will—well, he didn't _have_ to, but he knew he probably should since Will probably wouldn't be thrilled with the idea of getting lost on his first day. Ryo put the decision aside for the time being and walked slowly up the stairs. He was going to go to his room before he realized he hadn't brought his backpack with any of his books or homework. He would have been bothered if he cared in the slightest. Ryo had never needed to try very hard to excel in his academics as long as he went to class instead of disappearing to the digital world for a year or so.

Ryo instead walked to the bathroom and clumsily flicked on the light. The adjustment irritated his eyes a little, but he shrugged it off and brought his gaze to the mirror.

His hair was a mess. He barely recognized himself, really. The most prominent mark on his face was the darkening bruise on the lower-left side. He'd been hit there three times in the last four days. Ryo winced as he applied pressure to the skin around it as he examined for any more marks.

_Guess the bruise is due._

His head was starting to feel light, his vision blurry. He slowly walked over to the bathtub and turned on the shower. He pulled his shirt over his head, grunting a little as he felt a few more sharp pains. With a sigh, Ryo gently pressed his thumb against a few spots on his right side until he found where the hurt was coming from, right around his ribs. He instinctively winced and his body shook a little, but he regained himself quickly.

Ryo realized that he hadn't even taken his shoes off, so he kicked them aside, and bent to pull his socks off before the sore spot on his side angrily reminded him that it was still there as he bent.

He sat down and leaned against the door, the wood feeling cold against his back, and, at a total loss of what to do with himself, big picture or small, he sighed.

_Shit._

--

_Shit!_

Rika threw her backpack across her room.Herface was hot, and she was pretty sure she was even shaking a little. The nerve of Ryo, attacking Adam like that—

_Ugh_.

Adam had dropped her off, but neither of them spoke in the car.

She sat at her computer, looking over her instant-messenger program. She had her status set to be invisible so nobody could message her. Most of the people on the list from school who had witnessed the fight had some variation of "_Well, that was interesting_" attached to their name. Rika really wasn't in the mood to deal with it, so she shut the program down and put on an episode of Futurama she'd started downloading the night before. Within ten second after the introduction, she knew she wouldn't be able to focus and closed that program, too.

Rika looked around her room for something to occupy herself with, but couldn't find anything that would hold her attention for more than ten seconds.

_Who the hell does Ryo think he is?_

"Damnit." Rika muttered under her breath as she realized she was thinking about it again.

In the instant her stomach grumbled, she quickly hurried to her closet and grabbed a jean jacket, grateful for the opportunity to have something to do.

She almost ran to the front door and headed out, as she hadn't taken her shoes off since she got in.

It was only 3:00, and since she herself had left from school early, many of the other students were just now heading back to their homes. She recognized a few of them from some of her classes, and a lot of them were looking at her and whispering to their friends. It was just like when she was called the Digimon Queen, only instead of envy it was gossip.

Rika would have been embarrassed if she wasn't so pissed off.

She turned her nose up at the students who were gossiping about her, knowing none of them would have the nerve to actually confront her about anything. At least, that's what she thought until she was approached by a brown-haired teenager who she knew would put his nose where it didn't belong.

"Rika, what the hell happened today?" Takato asked her plainly.

"What did you hear?" she countered.

"That Ryo and Adam were fighting at school this afternoon." Takato answered. When she didn't respond, he repeated his question. "What happened?"

"Ryo attacked _him_." Rika defended.

"Rika." Takato insisted.

"What?" Rika was beginning to get frustrated now.

"Why do you hate him?" he asked her simply.

"Excuse me?" Rika was getting more defensive than before.

"He was trying to do what he thought was right." Takato spoke solemnly, but Rika wasn't ready to buy it.

"How dare you." She said through gritted teeth. "You have no idea what it was like! _None _of you know!" she barked at him.

"So explain to me how that's _our_ fault?" It was Takato now who was on the defensive. "Come on Rika, why the hell won't you talk to me?" he suddenly demanded, changing the subject, though the focus on his face remained the same. Rika felt guilty that she had to think about whether or not Takato meant why wouldn't she talk to him then, or since he got back.

_Because you pity me._

But that was a different discussion for a different argument, so it was Rika's turn to pick the conversation topic, and she picked the first one.

"Ryo attacked him." She said flatly.

"Why?"

"Because _Ryo_'s a lunatic." Rika muttered, and tried to turn to leave, but, of course, Takato wasn't going to give up so easily. He didn't have to ask her again, but she glared at him before and while she spoke next. "He was shouting that Adam supposedly attacked some kid the other day." Her voice was quiet but clear, and Takato's expression changed to one of thought.

It took a second for it to click in with Rika, but she remembered that Ryo said that Cronus guy was there—so if _he_ was, Rika realized Takato must have been there, too.

"Do you believe him?" Takato asked suddenly.

"Who?"

"Ryo."

"Of course not." She didn't have to think twice about it.

"Now, is that because you hate Ryo, or because you actually believe Adam?"

Rika's blood ran cold.

"Takato, what I believe and why I believe it is none of your damn business." Her words dripped with anger. She didn't have to explain anything to Takato, or anyone for that matter. Takato looked hurt, but Rika wasn't going to back down—he was way out of line. Wasn't he?

Even though she had clearly hurt his feelings, he never broke eye contact with her. They stared at each other for a few seconds, the tension high, before Takato spoke sincerely.

"Yeah, well it used to be."

Rika felt the cool air on the inside of her lips as she realized her mouth had opened, and she looked at the brown-haired boy, feeling as hurt as he looked. He just shook his head, smiled weakly in defeat, turned, and walked away.

She too turned and headed back in the direction in which she had come. She didn't feel hungry anymore.

--

Ryo awoke in his bed. He vaguely remembered crawling into it from the bathroom, and was still wearing just a pair of shorts. He inspected himself and saw that the red marks on his body had darkened, prompting him to hop out of bed to look into a mirror.

Surprisingly, the bruises weren't really noticeable on his face, though they did still sting when he touched them, though it had only been a few hours—

_Oh, shit._

—Ryo ran to the clock and saw that it was 5:00pm. He was supposed to go walk Will home two hours ago. He quickly got dressed and rushed out to apologize to Will, only to find his room empty. He _had_ been there, though, as his backpack was on his bed, opened, with a few textbooks scattered about.

A rush of relief washed over him, but it was countered by an equal weight in guilt, and he went downstairs to apologize. But when he went downstairs, he found not Will, but Miriam.

"Hey, I didn't know you were in." Miriam said, putting some groceries away.

"Yeah, I was tired so I took a nap." Ryo half-lied. "How're you feeling?" he added, referring to her headaches.

"Better, I think." She nodded. "Thanks."

"Where's Will?" Ryo asked curiously, helping her unpack the groceries.

"He's at a friend's house." She answered, somewhat proudly.

Ryo grinned, actually finding himself glad for something. "Cronus?"

Miriam nodded. "Yeah. Thanks for introducing him to him."

"It was Takato, really." Ryo admitted. "But I'm glad they got along."

Ryo really was glad that they were. It gave him _something_ to feel glad of in coming back, and those things were in short supply lately. Still, he was glad to _be_ back, and he was glad to have a place to stay where the people loved him.

"Yeah, me too." Miriam nodded. "Oh, I picked up some Rice Crispies Squares. I know you like those."

"…thank you." Ryo said quietly.

"Oh, you're welcome." Miriam replied. A beat passed. "They were on sale." She confessed.

Ryo's face sank a little, guiltily. "No, I mean—thanks for everything." He looked up, and smiled weakly. "I don't know what I would've done without you."

She looked contemplative. "Panic, freak out, then run around in circles?"

"Yeah." Ryo murmured. "Probably."

She smiled at him, but he couldn't bring himself to smile back. Her face sank when his did, though, and another moment paused before she spoke.

"Why'd you leave here?"

His stomach twisted a bit, but he felt the need to answer a question with a question.

"Why did you?"

Ryo never did find out why his parents divorced. He wasn't even two when it happened, and he couldn't remember anything from that time, just like any other child. Most of the time he didn't want to know, since it had happened when he was so young—perhaps he didn't want to hear that he was even part of the reason.

But he wasn't a kid anymore, and the question was already put out. He knew he could retract it if he really wanted to, but he felt ready to know. He looked at his mother square in the eye. Ryo could tell she was hesitating, but didn't push her any further. He knew she was going to answer him. She leaned against the counter in the kitchen, her arms crossed in front of her. Ryo himself was already leaning against the adjacent counter, his arms behind his back.

"Your father used to drink a lot, and we argued a lot because of it." She said very quietly. "When I wanted out of our marriage, we fought for you. Your dad, being more successful than I was at the time, convinced the court that he would be able to provide substantially better care for you. I knew he'd never hurt you, and I couldn't prove you were better off in my custody, so I—I didn't have a choice. I let him have you."

Ryo didn't let it visibly phase him…as much as he did respect his mother, he still did resent her for not ever being there, and there were still answers he needed.

"So why'd you leave the country?"

"Because I found out I was pregnant."

_What?_

"You mean Will's—"

"Your father never knew…because I knew that if he _did_ know, he'd want the baby, too. I moved back to the States, and went back my maiden name. After Will was born, I contacted a friend of mine, and we figured out a scam where she'd take Will, and I'd adopt him from her. If anyone were to ask, I wouldn't be lying when I told them I'd adopted him."

Ryo sat down at the table, while Miriam never moved. He let her words sink in. He was surprised, but he knew he would be even when he asked the question. But Will…

"Is Will Dad's—I mean, is he—"

"I was faithful in my marriage." She didn't say it defensively, but she had a tone of sorrow to it. Ryo wondered if his father wasn't faithful himself, but couldn't bring himself to ask. "He's your brother."

Ryo was stunned. Sure, he thought Will did look like his mother a _little_, but Ryo had never imagined that they were related by blood. Let alone the fact that he never thought _he_ had any siblings. He'd asked his dad once when he was little why he never had any brothers or sisters, and he'd answered that it was because his mother and he didn't live together; and Ryo had stopped there.

"Dad never had any idea?" Ryo asked slowly, curious, if only to break the silence.

"I almost told him once, a few years ago when I came here."

"You were here?" Ryo asked. "When?"

Miriam thought for a moment. "Two and a half years, or so?"

Ryo thought about what had happened two and a half years previous that would encourage his mother to come by.

_Right_.

The date fit when Ryo had 'gone missing'; back when he first went to the digital world, specifically.

"Ah." Ryo replied.

"But no, he never knew." Miriam said guiltily. "I was scared he'd try to take him."

"Does Will know?" Ryo asked, mentally smacking himself for not asking sooner.

She shook her head. "No. He still believes he's adopted."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"Your father kept in touch with some of my friends in the States. I couldn't risk Will letting it slip in front of anyone…and now that he's older, I—I just felt like it was too late to tell him."

"So why're you telling me?" Ryo asked her.

"Because I guess I needed you to know."

Ryo didn't know how to feel. On one hand, he was glad to have someone else in his family, but on the other, he knew he had lost so much time, with both of them.

"When are you gonna tell Will?"

She brought her gaze up from the floor. "Soon." She said carefully. "Just—not right yet."

It took Ryo a great deal of self-control to not question why. He was curious, sure, but he had already gotten more information than he had been expecting, and more than he was ready for. He'd ask her why sometime later—but not just then.

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he could tell that she was feeling just as awkward as he himself was feeling, so he made up an excuse to leave the kitchen and go back to his room. He sat on his bed for a moment, going over everything she'd told him, but still found himself wondering what his mother was keeping from him…she obviously had secrets—far more than he'd expected, anyways, but he knew there had to be a reason why she hadn't told Will yet.

_Will. My brother—I have a brother…?_

Ryo sighed, knowing he'd have to keep it a secret from Will until Miriam felt ready to tell him. He silently vowed that if she didn't do it in a timely manner, that he'd do it himself. The news was too huge for Ryo, and he couldn't sit still because of it. He went to his computer, and signed onto his instant messenger. He looked through the list of contacts, trying to find someone he was actually interested in talking to. He saw that Takato was online, though his status was set to 'Away'. He decided to try his luck, and sent a message.

"_Hey, you around?"_

There was no immediate answer, so he took the opportunity to delete the massive amounts of spam from his e-mail inbox, and when there wasn't a response by the time he was finished, he half-frowned, disappointed. He saw that Jeri, too, was online, but stopped himself from asking her where Takato might be, incase he was with her, which'd make things awkward since he wanted to talk to Takato about what Miriam had told him. Instead, he determined a better course of action, and he grabbed his jacket—he needed some fresh air. He looked at the clock, and saw that it was 6:30. He slipped on his jacket, and headed for the door, before he stopped in his tracks and went back to the computer, which he'd decided to leave on. He took a deep breath, clicked on Rika's name, and clicked the option to send her an e-mail.

_I'm sorry about what happened today. Meet me at the park anytime after 10 so we can talk…I swear that if you never want to see me after, you won't have to, okay?_

_- Ryo_

He sent it without hesitating so that he wouldn't have the option to chicken out after. Of course, it didn't stop him from thinking he'd just made another huge mistake.

Still, Ryo hurried out the side door, so he could avoid Miriam, who'd moved on to the living room. He'd decided to take the longest possible route for his walk, as his mind filled with wandering but expanding thoughts, the one that he found coming to the top of his head was what he'd say to Rika if she showed up. He knew that he'd be there probably an hour early, and also knew that he'd be staying for hours—probably hoping she'd show.

_Maybe I should do something romantic?_

Nah. That's not the kind of thing Rika'd really like. Ryo still didn't even know how he hoped Rika would fit into his life. On one hand, the most he could reasonably hope for was for her to accept him as a friend…but on the other—he loved her.

Ryo realized that the only way she'd really forgive him for leaving was if he told her the whole truth about why he left—that what he'd been infected with was the same virus that turned her father into a bloodthirsty monster…that Ryo was scared that he never was cured of it, even though Yamaki's tests read that he was fine…that Ryo'd believed Takato had died because he'd believed that Ryo—even if he _was_ a monster—was worth saving.

But he couldn't tell her. He loved her—with all his heart—too much to ever let her know what her father had become. For all she knew, her father was just a promising young doctor who'd died in a car accident when she was a little girl. And according to Yamaki, Rika's dad hadn't been infected with the virus until only about a year before he'd turned into that—_thing_. Ryo couldn't ever let Rika know.

He decided that her friendship was enough, and that it was all he was convinced he could earn. He looked at his watch, and saw that it was 7:15. He had just under three hours before she'd—hopefully—be at the park.

Ryo turned around and headed back towards his house, pushing Rika out of his mind as best he could. Whatever he'd say—he'd play it by ear. The only thing he decided to make very clear when he spoke to her was that he just wanted to earn back her friendship.

He passed Takato's family's bakery, and glanced in. He could see Takato's parents working, and saw Cronus helping out behind the counter, and even Will was helping, too. Ryo saw that Will was having fun there from the smile on his face, and decided against going in as he worried he'd be a buzzkill if he did. He continued on, window-shopping but never actually stopping—

—until he bumped into someone hard, someone roughly his height and build.

"Adam." Ryo said quietly. The green-eyed boy smirked at Ryo. Ryo would have been nervous, but was surprised that Adam was alone—Ryo knew he could take Adam if he tried anything, so he relaxed some, but still kept his wits about him. Ryo saw that Adam's face was bruised only as little as his own was, but knew that the rest of his body was likely as sore as Ryo's.

"Look you little fucker," Adam began rather bluntly, dropping his smirk. "Stay the fuck away from my girlfriend."

Ryo stared at him, wondering if Rika had told him about the e-mail he'd sent her. Adam pushed past him and continued down where Ryo'd come from before Ryo turned around and called to him.

"Adam." He said half-loudly. The boy turned to him, and looked at Ryo, puzzled. "Why'd you do it?"

"Do what?" the boy replied. Ryo walked up to him slowly, but in no way threateningly.

"Mug him." Ryo answered curiously. "Drugs? Got some nasty people after you? Or is it just easier than working?"

Adam's face darkened, and he glared around the two of them to see if anyone would be able to hear him when he spoke.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Adam said very clearly.

"Come on." Ryo insisted. "You've already got everyone believing your story. Even Cronus doesn't think you were there, and he was right there kicking the crap out of your buddies. You've got them all fooled."

Adam smirked again. "I guess I do, don't I?"

At this point Ryo's stomach was busy ripping itself apart, but Ryo didn't let it show. It wouldn't do him any good to. "So why'd you do it?"

"Wasn't my idea." Adam answered.

"Come on." Ryo pressed. He really was curious. He hated Adam with a vengeance, but even Ryo knew there was no risk in Adam sharing the info with Ryo…nobody'd believe Ryo anyways, and Ryo knew that Adam knew it, too.

Adam glanced around again, and then looked back to Ryo. "Those guys I was with saw the wad of cash he had in the store. _They_ were the ones who're always looking for a fight."

"And you didn't want to hurt anybody, right?" Ryo muttered sarcastically.

"If you recall, I was the only person other than yourself who didn't have a weapon." Adam said defensively. "Besides, I'd convinced them to only knock him unconscious instead of dragging him into an alley and slitting his throat, but do I hear a 'thank you'?"

Ryo's blood boiled. It was Ryo's turn to look around to make sure Adam was the only one who could hear him. "If you ever touch him again, I swear to God I'll beat you to death myself." It was probably the worst thing Ryo'd ever said to anyone, but he stared Adam down. And still, Adam just smirked.

"Just stay the hell away from Rika." Adam turned, and left.

Ryo did the same, but Adam's warning worried him a lot more than Ryo knew his threat scared Adam.

--

"Hey, this is Adam, I'm not here right now, but lea—"

Rika hung the phone up and frowned. She'd only spoken a few words since she got back from her fight with Takato, and it had been hours since. She'd taken her dinner to her room, and quietly declined her grandmother's invitation/request that she eat at the table with her and her mother.

She sat at her desk, working on her homework from that day. She'd actually done it twice already, but she figured she didn't have anything else to do, so triple-checking wouldn't hurt anything but her sanity. She was getting to the point where she remembered the answers without doing any of the work when her elbow hit her mouse, knocking the computer out of standby mode, and the computer hummed to life. She was ready to turn it back off when she noticed the blinking green icon in the corner of her computer screen.

Clicking on it opened up her e-mail account, and she waited for the new message to be displayed. Her gut twisted when he saw that the recipient of it was Ryo Akiyama. She clicked the checkbox next to it, and moved her cursor over to the Trash option. Her finger hovered over the button, before her curiosity got the best of her and she determined that there was no harm in reading it over before she deleted it.

_I'm sorry about what happened today. Meet me at the park anytime after 10 so we can talk…I swear that if you never want to see me after, you won't have to, okay?_

_- Ryo_

Rika stared at the computer screen, reading over Ryo's e-mail for the third time. It wasn't particularly detailed or complex, but what amazed her was that she wasn't rejecting the concept of seeing him.

She inhaled quietly, and deleted the message as she promised herself she would. Rika turned the screen off, and went back to her homework. After finishing a few more problems, she checked the time, and saw that the message had arrived in her inbox almost three hours earlier. It was 9:50, and Ryo wanted to meet her at 10.

She went back to her work for a while, and realized she hadn't been doing the homework properly since she read Ryo's e-mail. It was still all done, as she could just hand in either of her first two drafts of it. She didn't _want_ Ryo to have any influence over her, but it turned out that he was still able to throw her off.

_I could always just go see what he has to say._

Rika debated with herself for a moment before she made a decision.

_I sure hope I know what I'm doing_.

Rika grabbed a jacket from her closet, and headed towards the park to meet Ryo.

--

Ryo sat on top of Guilmon's old hideout, looking around anxiously for Rika. He looked at his watch: 9:25. He still had 35 minutes before she was technically 'late', though he wouldn't mind if she was—he just prayed that she'd show up.

His feet hung over the edge, and beneath them, sitting on the ground was his backpack. In it he'd brought a blanket, a lantern-flashlight, and some of Rika's favorite foods—well, her favorite snacks and sandwich, anyways, since Ryo didn't think it'd make sense to cook anything warm if it'd be sitting in his backpack for however long.

He perked up when he saw a movement, but slouched again when he saw that it was some guy walking his dog.

_Definitely not Rika._

Ryo still hadn't decided what to say to Rika besides 'I'm sorry'. He anxiously awaited her arrival, and he found some relief that after the night was over, he wouldn't have to wonder where they stood—he would keep his word; if she asked him to stay completely out of her life, he would.

His throat itched, and he hopped off of the stone structure to grab a bottle of water from his backpack before he realized he'd forgotten any drinks at his house.

He contemplated for a second, and figured he had enough time to grab some from his house. He put his backpack inside the little stone structure, and hurried home.

Ryo pushed open the door quickly, and went to the kitchen to grab a few drinks from the fridge. He could hear some soft classical music playing in the living room, which Miriam liked to listen to when she read, and as he walked by, he called to her.

"Hey, I'm back but heading out, I just forgot something to drink."

He decided to run upstairs to his room to see if Rika had left him an e-mail back: 1 new message.

He clicked on it eagerly, and saw that it was from Takato.

_Hey man, I just got your message, I was out earlier, sorry. Will's gonna crash here tonight, I don't know if your mom told you already, but you're welcome to come too. Anyways, I'm being called to dinner, so come by if you've got nothing better to do._

_Later,_

_That guy who's so much cooler than you._

Ryo didn't think he'd have time to message Takato back explaining what was happening, but he knew they wouldn't be up waiting, so if Rika did show up and turned him down quickly, he decided he'd go over there, where he could at least have some people to talk to.

After running back to the kitchen, he opened the fridge, and grabbed two cans of diet coke, and two cans of root beer. He put them onto the counter, and stuffed them into a grocery bag quickly. He looked at the clock: 9:40.

_Okay, I can make it if I hurry._.

He was almost out of the kitchen before he realized the fridge was still wide open, and he reached over and closed it, hoping his mother wouldn't realize he'd almost forgotten.

He did a quick scan around the kitchen to see if there was anything else he should bring—and when he determined Rika would have no interest in green peppers, he headed out when the phone rang.

_Crap_.

He turned around, and saw that the cordless phone wasn't on the base, and he could hear the receiver ring in the living room. He waited for Miriam to say if it was for him, but after one ring, the answering machine clicked on. After the beep, a man's voice spoke.

"Ms. Connors, it's Doctor Imuri; I'm sorry for calling so late, but I've gotten the results back from the CAT scan, and if you could please call me back as soon as you can... I'm keeping an opening to see you tomorrow morning at 10:15, but if you can't make it, we can reschedule at your earlier convenience."

_What…?_

He walked over to the answering machine, and played the message again.

"Ms. Connors, it's Doctor Imuri; I'm sorry for calling so late—"

Ryo listened to it again, letting his words sink in, and even hoping that the message would be different the second time through. He put the bag on the counter, and walked towards the living room.

_Headaches. CAT scan. That's why she was at the hospital when Will was there. She was there before he was_.

"…Miriam?" he called over the music which continued to play quietly.

He entered the room, and saw something on the floor that shouldn't have been there. Miriam. Face down against the carpet, a spilled glass of water in her right hand.

"Mom!"

Ryo rushed to her, and rolled her over. The result had Ryo looking into eyes that couldn't see him back.

--

This story's only gonna be 5 chapters, but it'll be fairly wrapped up in the next chapter. The sequel's gonna be good though, and I'll post the prologue and the first chapter of it along with the next chapter of Diminuendo.

Also, I added "Tamers Sagas:" as the prefix to Atlas, Flux, Crescendo, and Diminuendo so it's easier to tell that they're actually all one big story. Anyways, the next/hopefully final installment of the series is "Tamers Sagas: Code Carter". It's going to have Takato, Jeri, Ryo, Rika, Henry, Kazu and Cronus returning to the digital world on a series of seemingly simple missions, while there's something much bigger and more apocalyptic going on.

Anyways, while Crescendo had the most chapters in the series (13), Code Carter's looking like it's going to be around 22, with each chapter being noticeably longer (on average). I have a spoiler-free outline of the new story if anyone would like to give it a look, and I'd actually like some feedback on how it's looking before I get even farther into writing them. So, leave me a message if you'd like to give it a look!

For the chapters I've already finished, it's heavy on the Ryuki (4 of the first 5 chapters follow either Ryo or Rika). Anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself. Back to Diminuendo. Oh, this chapter's over now. Review, please!

-N


	5. Resolve

--

Woot. Probably not the ending everyone was hoping for, but the Ryuki-ness will continue in the next story. Sorry about the length of time between updates, and thanks for all the nice reviews!

-N

--

"And think not you can guide the course of love.

For love, if it finds you worthy, shall guide your course."

- Kahlil Gibran

--

Rika had stood outside the park for nearly ten minutes before she gathered the nerve to enter. It was just after 10:00, when Ryo said he'd meet her. He didn't specify an exact location on _where_ in the park to meet her, but it was a guarantee he meant Guilmon's old hideout—it was the only place in the park that the Tamers ever went.

After reminding herself that she was just there to talk, she gathered her nerves and went inside.

What was she going to say? She _was_ still mad at him for abandoning her, wasn't she? Rika really wasn't in the mood to evaluate the importance of Ryo to her life, but she couldn't help but. She had hated him when she'd first met him. But after she was _forced_ to spend time with him in the digital world, she found his presence much more—tolerable.

She paused for a moment, reflecting. She recalled just before she had become Sakuyamon for the first time—she was climbing downwards into this enormous pit as pieces of D-Reaper moved up past her.

_Ryo came for me._

It seemed like another lifetime, and in a way, it was. Rika obviously hadn't been thinking of relationships much way back then—that was almost three years ago. Ryo had been risking his neck for her since day one: Rika had just never thought much of it. Several months ago when that monster appeared and started hunting down the Tamers, Ryo had invited her to stay at his place, so they could keep an eye on each other. She was there for two weeks, and it took her even longer than that time to realize that she was really enjoying his company.

But how much did she owe him, really? Before he'd left, she had finally felt the way that she thought that he did. She still remembered the last conversation she'd had with him before he left, quite vividly. After Takato had escaped to the digital world, and everyone thought he died, Ryo had taken it harder than anyone, except maybe Jeri. And Rika accepted that—Takato was his best friend. But when Rika had tried to convince Ryo that it wasn't his fault, he had insisted that it was, and that he wasn't strong enough to protect her.

Rika had never really understood what Ryo had meant by it. Rika hadn't been in any more danger than anyone else had. But Ryo had seemed so adamant. Rika had tried to tell him that as long as they stuck together, things would be okay, but—

—but he didn't think so.

The red-headed girl sighed then. Ryo had been important to her—he really had. But she stood in the dark, then, mourning the fact that whenever she thought of him, her last conversation with him was all that came to her head.

But there was something else, too. After she'd left the coffee shop where he'd rejected her, Rika had been devastated and ran to Henry Wong's house. But she'd been careless, and had run right in front of a car. She remembered her body freezing up, but her mind had still been active—

—she remembered not caring whether or not it hit her. It was a shocking feeling for Rika. How could anyone have made her feel so vulnerable? Like such a victim?

She'd often wondered if they'd broken up that night, or if they had ever been together. They'd shared a kiss one night, but Ryo was abducted by Valn shortly after. It had meant a lot to Rika—she hadn't even thought about it as she'd leant in—Ryo had been injured when the monster had attacked—

—_injured protecting me_—

—and she had been so relieved to see that he was okay that she just—needed to be closer to him. Was that all it was to her? She knew it was hard to think clearly on things where one's attitudes had changed. Even if she wanted to, could she ever care about Ryo again? He was good with words, sure, but what could he possibly say that would change anything?

With a sudden resolve, she approached Guilmon's old hideout, in search of Ryo. Her reasoning was that they weren't her questions to answer; they were his.

She stepped up towards the small stone house.

"Ryo?" she called.

She jumped in place so she could see the structure's roof to see if Ryo was on top of it. He wasn't. She circled around it—maybe he was behind it. He wasn't.

_Where is he? He said he'd be here…_

She looked at her watch; it was 10:05. She was fairly confident that he hadn't left in the last five minutes—and besides, knowing Ryo, he would have waited for hours before giving up.

Rika suddenly thought she saw something white just inside the door to the stone house.

_A sleeve?_

"Ryo?"

She reached in and touched it, and recognized it as the strap of a backpack. Curious, she tugged at it, and felt from its weight that it was full.

She moved it underneath some light, and unzipped it. Inside, at the very top, she saw some sort of flashlight, which, after some fumbling, she managed to activate. It was a lantern-style one, and she set it on the ground while she snooped through the rest of the bag.

Underneath the flashlight as a blanket, which she tugged out and set aside. She heard some plastic crinkling when she did, and she curiously unwrapped the fabric to uncover six individually-wrapped sandwich-halves. She picked one up, and stared through the plastic wrap.

_Turkey, cheese, and a slice of dill pickle._

It was her favorite. Count on Ryo to remember mundane little details like that. She caught herself smiling a little, but didn't bother hiding it since there was nobody around.

_Nobody_.

She tossed the sandwich back into the blanket, wrapped it up, and put everything back in the bag where she'd found it.

Sure, Ryo had remembered what she liked. But it would have meant more if he actually showed up.

Rika sighed deeply, and left, silently cursing the fact that she'd been hoping to see him.

--

"Can I get you anything else?" Ryo asked, holding out his hang which held a glass of water which Will eventually accepted, though far from eagerly.

The younger blonde boy didn't make eye contact as he took the cup, nor did he actually drink from it. He eventually shook his head in response to Ryo's question, and Ryo stood up and turned to leave.

It had been four days since he'd found Miriam with her face against the floor of the living room. Ryo'd felt for her heartbeat, but there wasn't one. He'd tried CPR, and called for an ambulance, but she was already gone. The doctors told him that it was a brain hemorrhage, and that it was a rather painless way to go for however gruesome the reality of it was. However long she was out, she never did wake up.

Ryo had gone to Takato's house after the body had been removed, to tell Will. It had been Takato who answered the door. Ryo barely remembered _getting_ to Takato's house, but he knew he had walked, and it had been very late at night, or perhaps very early in the morning when he arrived. He had called Takato's cell phone ahead of time and told him that he needed to see Will, and that he was on his way over. Will had been woken up from Takato answering the phone, and apparently, Takato had asked Will to wait downstairs with him while they waited for Ryo.

Ryo himself hadn't given himself any time to grieve. Sure, he did care about Miriam, and he cared that she was gone, but she wasn't in his life long enough to be his mother. He missed her and he loved her, but he knew it would be Will that would take it harder than anyone; and it was Ryo's responsibility to tell him.

As expected, the boy was devastated. He'd barely said anything since, and Ryo wouldn't know what to tell him if he _did_ say anything.

Ryo looked back to him as he held the glass of water and stared into it absentmindedly. He frowned helplessly as he left the room. As he did, he passed Cronus, who had been waiting outside. Cronus pat Ryo on the arm as he passed, and Ryo gave him a weak smile.

Cronus had been keeping an eye on Will while Ryo dealt with the other responsibilities. Ryo was grateful, too. Will had always been so high-energy, and seeing him like that—

—_it's like he's dead too._

He sighed, a mixture of pity for Will, and guilt for not mourning more than he felt he ought to.

Ryo and Will were still at the Matsuda residence—neither he nor Will felt comfortable going back to their house, where Miriam had died.

Cronus seemed to mind the silence less than Ryo did, and seemed to be eager to help out any way he could. It was in Cronus's asking to help that Ryo thought he saw some of Guilmon's innocence in there. Will had been sleeping in Cronus's bed, while Cronus crashed on the floor. Ryo was staying in Takato's room, and despite Takato's insistence that he take the bed, Ryo was using a sleeping bag on the floor.

Will hadn't been eating much, and looked somewhat pale. He'd said his stomach was hurting.

He headed downstairs towards the living room, where he knew Takato was doing his homework. Will had been off school since it happened, and it was now the weekend. Ryo was hoping Will would be back at school on Monday, though he just wasn't sure. Ryo himself had been going to a few classes each day, but always wound up heading back to Takato's place early as he was worried about Will.

Takato's parents had been very supportive, and Ryo was grateful for their hospitality. They had taken as much of a liking to Will as they had to Ryo, and, like Cronus, they were wanting to do all they could to help.

Ryo counted himself lucky to have such people around him.

"Hey." Takato said with a nod as Ryo entered the room. "Any change?"

Takato was of course, referring to Will, who had been their primary topic of discussion since Miriam died. Ryo shook his head in response. This wasn't what Ryo had been planning. He didn't exactly have experience in consoling a traumatized fifteen year old.

"I'm burnt out, Takato." Ryo sighed, flopping onto the couch. "I just don't know what to do."

"He'll get through it." Takato said, slowly closing his textbook. "He just needs some time to—to see where he stands."

Ryo thought it over, but didn't give any sign of actually acknowledging him, which caused Takato to speak again.

"The poor kid…he must think he's so alone…"

Ryo had explicitly told Will that he wasn't alone, but he knew that he didn't believe him. Ryo still hadn't told Will what he learned from Miriam—he didn't know how to.

"The last conversation I'd had with her," Ryo suddenly started, recalling the event in his head. "She'd told me about why she left Japan in the first place."

Takato's eyebrows raised. "Why?"

Ryo lowered his gaze to the floor. "She was scared of my dad, and—and she didn't want him to take Will."

"I thought she adopted him in the States?" Takato said, confused.

Ryo brought his gaze from the floor to his friend. "Well, she did…it was this big scheme so my dad wouldn't find out she was ever pregnant."

"So—he's really your brother?"

Ryo nodded. "But I have no idea what to do now that I know that."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm still seventeen." Ryo stated. "I'm not technically an adult yet, and I don't think I can legally be his guardian."

"Did anyone explain to you what should be happening?" Takato asked.

Ryo shook his head. "I think all the paramedics and doctors and everyone assumed my dad still lived with us. It's gonna be a scene if anyone finds out that it's just the two of us there."

"Is there any way you can prove he's your brother?" Takato suddenly asked, perking up. "Just in case anyone _does_ find out."

Ryo doubted it. "I don't think so." He admitted. "Mir—my mother went through a lot of effort to cover her tracks so it wouldn't get out that Will was hers. I mean, maybe there's papers somewhere, but I have no idea how to go about looking for them."

"Does he know?"

Ryo shook his head again. "I think it might be a little overwhelming for him right now."

"What about her Will?"

"Huh?"

"Er, her will—what goes to who, I mean."

Ryo shook his head a little, hoping he didn't look like an idiot for not understanding him the first time. But there was no mention of Will in the will, or any mention that they were related. The will had been updated rather lately, since everything had been left to Ryo. He knew that she wanted him to look after Will, and he would. She'd left a damn fortune, which Ryo wasn't too surprised to learn she had saved, seeing the size of the house she'd bought.

"This didn't have to happen." Ryo finally murmured. "If I'd come home sooner—if I'd stayed inside, maybe she'd—"

"Sometimes things just happen, Ryo." Takato said carefully, though slowly, as he was trying to be both comforting and realistic. "It's just—sometimes we don't have a choice."

Ryo felt filled with a sudden wave of helplessness. He was tough, sure, but he had no idea what he should be doing, and even though his best friend was sitting just a few feet away from him, and his brother was just upstairs, Ryo had never felt so alone.

"You're right." Ryo eventually admitted. "I know I don't have a choice in who people are, or the secrets they keep. I know that there's things I can't stop, and that I didn't have a choice in what happened in Rika's father's life—or in my mother's." Ryo turned and glanced to the ceiling, knowing Will was upstairs, before he flopped back onto the couch, the material making a ruffling noise under his weight. "But even if I don't have a say in any of that, I _do_ have a choice about the life my brother can have."

"What are you gonna do?" Takato asked, still sitting in the chair across the room.

"I think I'm going to take him home."

Takato leaned forward, his elbows on his knees, and his chin resting on his hands. "Which home are we talking about here?"

"His home."

"You're going back to America, then?" Takato asked, obviously a little hurt.

Ryo nodded. "I think it'd be best for him."

"When?"

"I don't know yet." Ryo finally admitted after some silence. "I still need to talk to him about it, just—not right yet."

Takato nodded, looking back down to his books, but not opening them.

"Is this gonna be another bolt-in-the-night, or are you actually going to say goodbye to people this time?"

Ryo shrugged. "To whoever wants to hear it. I'm going to go get some air." Ryo decided, picking up Will's backpack. "I'll grab him more clothes from our house while I'm out."

Will only had the clothes he was wearing and the ones he'd brought with him. After they got dirty, he wore some of Ryo's extra clothes that he'd brought.

"Okay. Will you be gone long?"

"Probably just an hour or two."

"Alright, I'll see you in a bit."

--

Rika rubbed the leather strap of her watch as she passed Adam's house. She hadn't seen much of him over the last week, and she was quickly losing faith in their relationship. Things had been extremely awkward when Rika had questioned him on whether or not Ryo was telling the truth about Adam hurting that boy.

She hadn't talked to Ryo since the night he was supposed to meet her in the park. She was angry with him for not showing up, at least she was, until she heard from Jeri what had happened. Rika wanted to go offer her condolences, but didn't think it would be appropriate.

What had happened to Ryo's mother had been the talk of the school. Of course, the rumors flew, too, some saying that Ryo went crazy and did it, and even some saying that Adam did it. Rika hated the drama her peers felt compelled to create, and tried to avoid it, as it was none of her business.

What still rung in her mind, however, was whether or not Adam was involved in mugging the boy Ryo's mother had adopted. She wanted to believe him when he told her that he had nothing to do with it, but she couldn't picture Ryo making something like that up.

_Well, it's time to find out the truth anyways._

Rika walked up the driveway, knowing that Adam wasn't in the house. It was 4:00, and he would be working until 7:00, so she had plenty of time. She knocked on the door three times, and in a moment, Adam's mother answered.

"Hi, Rika, Adam's at work right now."

"Hi," Rika said awkwardly, "I think I left one of my textbooks in Adam's room, may I go look for it?"

Adam's mother let her in, and Rika silently prayed that she'd leave her alone when she went into his room. She tried not to make idle-chat so that she wouldn't feel compelled to stay and talk to her, and it worked—she veered off towards the kitchen, leaving Rika alone.

_Bonus._

Rika quietly closed the door over as much as she could. She went straight to his computer and moved the mouse, hoping that it was in stand-by and not off. The screen flicked on instantly without a sound.

Sitting down, she reached her left hand into her pocket and pulled out her USB jump-drive, which she quickly popped in. Navigating to his "Received Files" folder, she quickly made a copy, and ejected the drive, and put it back in her pocket.

After returning the computer to its original state, she headed towards the door.

"Did you find it?" Adam's mother called from the kitchen.

"No, but thank you for letting me look." Rika called back politely as she headed outside the house.

_Maybe now I can actually get some answers_.

Sure, what Rika was doing was immoral, and wrong on more than a few levels. But if nobody would give her any tiny bit of honestly, she really didn't feel like she had much choice. That was _her_ justification, anyways.

Rika hopped in a cab so she could get home sooner, and she was home in no time. She eagerly went to her computer and opened up the folder she'd downloaded from Adam. It contained a few songs he'd been sent, as well as some pictures. But Rika soon found the sub-folder that she was looking for. Message History.

She opened it up, and frowned at the sheer number of documents that appeared, one for each contact on his instant messenger. She bit her lower lip, unsure of where to begin. She right-clicked, and arranged the icons by their size. After scrolling to the bottom, there were four files that were noticeably larger than the others. The first was his message history with Rika. The other three Rika recognized as some of Adam's friends that Rika didn't particularly care for, Sean, Andrew, and Patrick. She opened up Sean's message history.

Rika was trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, as she did feel guilty for invading Adam's privacy like that. The message history itself was enormous, and again, Rika had no idea where to begin looking. She instead did a CTRL+F, which opened up a search window. She entered "mug", and clicked. No entries. "steal" didn't bring up anything relevant either. Rika thought again. "Takato".

_Bingo._

**Sean: Did they see you?**

**Adam: I got away before Takato or that other guy saw me.**

Rika stared at the screen, unsure of what she should be feeling. Sure, she'd found him out, but she almost wished she hadn't. It just made Adam another person who had let her down.

She turned off her computer, and went to the backyard. Her mother and her grandmother had both gone out, so Rika had the house to herself. She sat on the bench in her backyard, and she'd been thinking over everything—the friendships she let die, the relationships that she'd invested so much of her heart into, the—

"_There_ you are." Takato declared from behind, approaching her. Rika had gotten over her little squabble with him the other day, and was willing to pretend it hadn't even happened.

"Hey." Rika said, turning back around. Takato circled around the bench before sitting on the grass in front of her, facing her.

"I was knocking for like five minutes."

_Leave it to Takato to keep something like that up._

"Sorry, I didn't hear you."

"It's okay." Takato shrugged. "What's up?"

"Same old." She lied. "How's Ryo?" she suddenly asked. She knew that Ryo was staying with Takato.

"He's okay, I think." Takato nodded, not looking at her. "He's more worried about Will than anything."

_Will? The brother._

Rika nodded too, unsure of what to say to something like that.

"Rika, I'm sorry for what I said the other day."

Rika hadn't really thought about it—because when she _did_ think about it, it made her sad. "It's alright."

Takato shook his head. "No, I shouldn't have attacked you like that."

Rika sighed, reflecting. She had avoided the other Tamers over the last several months because they pitied her. Then Takato confronts her _about_ avoiding them, and the two wound up yelling at each other. It was frustrating, and it made Rika feel guilty.

"I deserved it." Rika murmured. "After everything, I—I shouldn't have taken it out on all of you." It was the first apology Rika had made in as long as she could remember.

Rika could feel her eyes start to dry up, and when she squeezed them shut they started to water; and in an instant, she was in Takato's arms, and he hugged her tightly.

The two just held each other for a moment, and Takato rubbed her back.

"I really missed you." Takato said quietly.

"You baby." Rika teased through teary eyes, pushing him playfully.

They chatted for a few minutes before Takato suddenly looked very glum.

"So why'd you come here today?" Rika asked. Not that she wasn't grateful to have some cleared air, she was just curious.

_He didn't come to clear things up._

"There's something you need to know…" Takato started slowly, still looking at the ground.

"About what?" Rika was getting worried.

Takato finally brought his gaze to hers. "Months ago, that thing—the monster…you need to know why it was that Ryo left."

--

Ryo put his key into the doorknob, turned, and pushed. The door swung open quietly, before groaning a dull _thud_ as it hit the bumper on the wall. He reached to flick on the light, but realized it was already on.

_That's gonna be just great on the power bill_.

He sighed, knowing he had to worry about these things. He wasn't even eighteen yet; at least not for another couple of months—but he was scared to report it to any officials that he was the 'adult' of the house for fear that they'd take Will away.

Ryo stepped forward, knowing that he wasn't there to whine about his new responsibilities—he was there to pack some more clothes for Will. He didn't bother taking his shoes off; they were clean, and besides—it wasn't like anybody lived there anymore.

The house looked somehow even emptier than it had before. Ryo took special care not to actually step into the living room where he'd found Miriam, but couldn't stop himself from looking in and around. He soon entered the kitchen, and scavenged around for anything that Will might want. A thorough raiding of the pantry rewarded his efforts with an unopened can of Pringles. The backpack that Ryo was wearing was Will's, as Ryo had left his own in Guilmon's old hideout in the park. He stuffed it into the backpack, and continued looking around. After he found some cookies that had gone stale, he gave up. He eventually found his way to the stairs, and he slowly walked up them, the dull thumping of his shoes against the hardwood echoing loudly.

He hurried into Will's room and tossed the backpack on Will's bed without looking as he switched on the light. But the sound that came wasn't just the bag landing on the bed, but also glass breaking. Ryo spun around and saw that an empty glass bottle of orange juice had fallen and hit the floor hard, shattering.

_Damnit_.

Ryo stared at it for a moment before picking up the largest of the pieces off the floor and tossed them into the plastic garbage bucket. He used his shoe to sweep the remaining pieces under Will's bed, then redirected his attention to his original purpose.

He bit his lower lip as he noticed the textbooks on Will's bed. Will'd been off school for a week. Which really wasn't a big deal for him, since the kid was a damn genius.

Ryo bit his tongue, looking at all the boxes that still hadn't been unpacked. Will was planning on buying a new dresser, and didn't want his clothes all over the floor, so most of them remained in boxes around the room. Ryo dug around, and found a few changes of clothes—he made sure to take stuff he actually could remember Will wearing, so as not to bring something he didn't like. He folded the clothes and put them in the backpack.

Next on the list was Ryo's own room. He grabbed a few more t-shirts and put them in the bag, which was getting full. He decided to check his e-mail, since it was something he hadn't done since he found his mother.

There were several new messages in his inbox—most of them were junk, but there were a few from students from the school. One of them was from Kazu:

_I'm so sorry for what happened to your mother._

_Let me know if I can do anything to help._

_- Kazu_

Ryo smiled lightly, and saw that there was also one from Mala that said something similar, only it said 'Henry and I were sorry…' Ryo wanted to write everyone back, but knew he didn't have the time. He frowned not seeing anything from Rika at all, though he wasn't expecting anything from her. He hoped she hadn't waited for him long if she _had_ gone to the park that night.

He shut the computer down and headed back to Takato's house.

It was 6:00 by the time Ryo arrived back there; he was later than he'd expected. The backpack was bulky but light, fortunately. He knocked twice then opened the door, as he was instructed to.

Takato was in the living room watching some TV, and Ryo gave him a nod, and then went upstairs to talk to Will.

He gently pushed the door open, and saw that Will was sitting on the bed, twisting a Rubik's cube, though not looking at it.

Cronus was sitting on the floor, leaning against the wall, reading a novel Ryo'd seen Takato with a few years back. Cronus stood up at Ryo's arrival, and walked towards the door.

"Thanks." Ryo said to him.

"It's no problem." Cronus replied and continued downstairs.

"Hey." Ryo said as he sat on the bed next to Will.

"Hi." Will said quietly with a little nod.

"How's the puzzle?" Ryo looked to the cube, which didn't appear to be going very well.

"I'm not trying."

_Right_.

Ryo chewed at the inside of his lip. "Are you feeling any better today?"

Will didn't answer for a moment as he stared at the cube. "My stomach does."

Ryo just didn't know what to say to him. He felt so sorry for the boy, but was worried that he couldn't do anything to help.

"I'm gonna stick with you, you know." Ryo told him. Will stopped turning the cube, and looked at him.

"No you won't." Will responded quietly.

"I am." Ryo retorted.

"You're just—" Will started, sadly. "You're just trying to make me feel better. And I appreciate it. But I know you don't mean it."

All that Ryo wanted to do right then was to tell Will what Miriam had told him—that Ryo really was his brother. But he understood what Miriam meant when she said it was hard to do. But maybe he didn't need to tell him. Maybe he didn't have to tell him that Miriam had been lying to him his entire life. Maybe not.

"Hey." Ryo said firmly, looking the boy square in the eye. "I'm going to stay with you."

Will didn't answer out loud, but he just lowered his gaze, and sadly shook his head, doubtfully.

"And I'll prove it to you." Ryo said, perking up. He stepped over to Cronus's desk, and swiped the miniature globe embedded in a block of glass. He dropped it on Will's lap.

"Anywhere you want to go." Ryo told him.

"Huh?" Will picked up the block, and stared at it.

"We can go anywhere you want." Ryo explained. "Back to the States, the UK, Australia, anywhere you want to go, we'll go there."

"Why?" Will asked slowly, looking at the small globe carefully, and probably reading the tiny writing on it.

"'Cause there's nothing holding us here."

Will looked from the globe, to Ryo, then back to the globe, then back to Ryo.

"I like it here." Will said nervously.

Ryo hadn't been expecting it, and therefore, it took him by surprise. Of course Will liked it there. He was so excited to have Ryo show him the city, and to meet his friends.

"That's okay too." Ryo finally said, smiling.

But Will didn't smile back. "Isn't there anything here for _you_, though?"

--

"You came." Rika said. She was sitting on top of Guilmon's hideout, her legs hanging over the edge of the front. She was wearing a beige short-sleeved blouse, and a dark denim skirt that stopped a few inches before her knees. Her hair was down, and she'd obviously had something done to it, as it was crinkled and wavy in all the right spots. She'd never looked more gorgeous.

Ryo had been taken by surprise when he'd gotten her message from Takato. Ryo was hesitant to leave Will again, but Takato insisted that it was important, and that Cronus and he would keep Will company.

Ryo himself was dressed in a pair of jeans and a blue sweater with a white tribal pattern going up one side of the sleeve, across the chest, and back down the other sleeve.

"Yeah, I'm here." Ryo approached the structure, and circled behind it, where it was lower, and easier to climb up. He did, and soon perched himself on top as she did, though he made sure to stay enough of a distance away so as to not make her uncomfortable. "Didn't expect to be hearing from you anytime soon." Ryo admitted

"Yeah, I, uh," Rika said awkwardly, before sighing with a little nervous laugh. "I didn't expect to be calling."

"Is everything okay?" was Ryo's first question.

She frowned, and stared at the city. It was dark, and the lights of all the buildings were on.

"Well, I talked to Takato today…" Rika started. "And he told me about what really happened with the monster—with my dad."

_He told her _what

Ryo was shocked—that was something both he and Takato agreed that Rika could never know. Why would Takato tell Rika that?

Suddenly it clicked.

_So she'd forgive me._

"Rika, I—" Ryo murmured, searching for words he couldn't find.

"Please." She interrupted him, holding her hand up as if to ask he wait to speak. "And I—I was okay. I mean, I was pretty shaken up about it when he told me, but…I'm alright. I didn't need to be protected from knowing that. Or protected at all. And I still don't. So I really need some honesty—for once."

Her eyes met his. "That's why you left, isn't it?"

Ryo stared at her guiltily before nodding. "Whenever I was around you, I—I thought about how close I came to being—"

"You don't have to explain." Rika interrupted him, which he was thankful for. "I get what you did."

They stared at the city for a moment in silence.

"Ryo…" Rika started.

"Do you ever wonder?" Ryo asked, glancing from the stars to Rika's eyes, even if it was just for a second.

"About what?" Rika asked back, not avoiding his gaze, but remaining trained on the sky.

"About if we'd been more honest with each other from the beginning." He continued quietly. "About if I hadn't left…about if we'd—" he trailed off, at a loss for words, as much as he was at a loss for everything else in his life at the time.

Ryo inwardly prepped himself for her rejection—however she was going to sugarcoat it, it was still going to hurt like hell.

"Yeah, I do."

Ryo looked to her, and she stared back in his eyes. She brought her hand up to the side of his face, and it was all the indication he needed.

He leaned in and put his mouth on hers softly. He pulled away when her body stiffened, and he was ready to apologize, when Rika kissed him back. He pulled her closer, and kissed her harder, until Rika really did pull back.

"I'm sorry—" Ryo felt terrible.

"No…That was—I mean, I'm glad…" Rika sighed. "Ryo…to be honest, I really _have_ missed your friendship—"

"I want more than that." Ryo said flatly. "I know we've grown apart, but—you've never been far from my thoughts."

Not a day had gone by where Ryo hadn't thought about her. Her face, her voice, her laugh, her lips, the look she'd give him when he said something funny, the warmth of her face on his hand, the—

"I just need a little time." Rika said guiltily.

"Adam…?" Ryo suddenly remembered.

"He's a jerk." Rika shook her head, disappointed. "Have something for you, though."

Rika shifted as she reached into her pocket, before presenting a flat leather wallet.

"I got him to reimburse whatever money he took out of it. And all the cards should still be there."

Ryo smiled weakly. He stared down at the object, truly grateful for what she'd done—what she'd given up. He looked to her.

"I love you."

She looked upset. "I know."

_Ow._

"But you and me—" Rika began. "I'm not ready for—I mean…"

Ryo returned his gaze to the cityscape, disappointed.

"I was thinking earlier." Rika told him. "About how hard it is to remember feelings clearly. Without—bias."

Ryo didn't answer, but waited for her to continue.

"We were friends." She declared softly. "I know that much."

"I want more than that." Ryo admitted. Sure, he was pushing his luck. Sure it was selfish, and sure it was inappropriate. But it was honesty. For once.

"Maybe if we give it enough time." She answered eventually.

She shifted in place, obviously preparing to hop off of the roof, before she turned to Ryo. Ryo didn't expect it, but she gave him a gentle kiss on his lips. She was off of the roof and was a few steps away before he could respond.

"Good night, Ryo."

"Good night." He said softly, but she was already out of sight.

Ryo raised his hand behind his head, and lay back, staring at the sky. It was too cloudy to see the stars, so there was absolutely nothing worth looking up at, but he did it anyways.

"_Isn't there anything here for _you_, though?"_

Will had asked him that earlier. Ryo had plenty. He had good friends. He had his brother. He had history, and memories. That was enough for that time. If he had to wait to get any more…it'd be well worth it—and Ryo was okay with that.

--

Darn, I was hoping that they'd _really_ get together.

So, I was expecting that chapter to be shorter than any of the others. Well, that shows just how meaningless my planning is. Oh well…please review!

Oh, and as a sign of good faith to everyone who put up with my writing-ADD and said all those nice things in the reviews, the first two chapters of the sequel are up! It's called Code Carter, and it's listed under Rika and Ryo as the main characters if you're doing a search, or you can get to it from my profile.

-N


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